At the risk of being classified as “Chicken Little” we want to, once again, highlight the cyber security issue. Cyber security is something commercial aviation needs to keep focusing on. This thought is based on reading a report from Cylance called “Operation Cleaver”.  You can download a copy of their 86 page report on this operation using this link Cylance_Operation_Cleaver_Report. The report fingers the source of cyber operations as Iran. Cylance states “Operation Cleaver has instead focused on a wide array of targets, including energy producers and utilities, commercial airlines and airports, military intelligence, aerospace, hospitals, and even universities – with only ten of the targets based in the United States.” (emphasis added)
This image shows which types of organizations have been impacted. We have highlighted the industries we have a special interest in, and we suspect readers of our material share the same interest.
The report further points out: “Perhaps the most bone-chilling evidence we collected in this campaign was the targeting and
compromise of transportation networks and systems such as airlines and airports in South Korea, Saudi Arabia and Pakistan. The level of access seemed ubiquitous: Active Directory domains were fully compromised, along with entire Cisco Edge switches, routers, and internal networking infrastructure. They achieved complete access to airport gates and their security
control systems, potentially allowing them to spoof gate credentials.”
The report is chilling. Reading it is a quick study on how cyber security breaches work. Even non-IT people can follow the logic. It is a highly worthwhile read. Though you might not sleep as well after reading it.
For people within the commercial aviation supply chain, a special cyber security event is being planned for early 2015 in Washington DC. This day and a half event will be a closed (invitation only) and has limited seating. Interested people can contact us here.
