An advisory committee for the Federal Aviation Administration consisting of U.S. aviation regulators and industry representatives is working on measures to protect airlines from hackers, the Wall Street Journal reported Monday.Andy Pasztor writes that the panel is scheduled to meet this month amid industry concerns on potential vulnerabilities to cyber attacks and an attack on the flight-planning computers at Poland’s Warsaw Chopin Airport.
Jens Hennig, committee co-chairman and vice president of operations at the General Aviation Manufacturers Association, told the publication that the group aims to pinpoint up to eight cyber risk areas and establish a consensus on international standards for cybersecurity design and testing.
The report said some industry analysts pointed to linked ancillary ground networks that handle maintenance and air traffic control data as the biggest risk area for aircraft.
“Every time you introduce another connection [in the supplier network]… it’s another way to potentially attack the aircraft itself,” said Alain Robic, a consulting partner at Deloitte.
He added that supplier security should meet self-regulated information security policies, Pasztor reports.
