Search Results

Written by Kirsten Koepsel, a lawyer and engineer whose work has focused on aviation cybersecurity, Supply Chain Vulnerabilities Impacting Commercial Aviation addresses the big question facing aircraft manufacturers today: keep the work in house or outsource it? The ongoing battle between cost cutting and supply-chain control is ever more visible as aircraft OEMs have full order books and tight delivery schedules. Since the 1980s, commercial aviation, like many other industries, looked for ways of more economically sourcing parts and services. The new partnerships between OEMs and suppliers at multiple levels, did make the industry nimbler and more flexible. Yet, it also introduced a higher level of instability, risks and vulnerabilities to the aviation ecosystem.

The Aerospace Supply Chain and Cyber Security - Challenges Ahead looks at the current state of commercial aviation and cyber security, how information technology and its attractiveness to cyber attacks is affecting it, and the way supply chains have become a vital part of the industry's cyber-security strategy. More than ever before, commercial aviation relies on information and communications technology. Some examples of this include the use of e-tickets by passengers, electronic flight bags by pilots, wireless web access in flight, not to mention the thousands of sensors throughout the aircraft constantly gathering and sharing data with the crew on the ground. The same way technology opens the doors for speed, efficiency and convenience, it also offers the unintended opportunity for malicious cyber attacks, with threat agents becoming bolder and choosing any possible apertures to breach security.