Attacks on airlines are multi-faceted. While the plane itself can be hijacked, there are other risks that modern airlines must understand and prevent. One of these is hackers who are financially motivated and trying to access or steal customer data.

With the airline industry growing significantly, there are more threats than ever before. Now is the time for airlines to find and prepare for these threats using processes like detection, mitigation, and incident response efforts.

Smart airports, endless tech gadgets, and digital transformation are just a few of the challenges that airlines worldwide are now navigating to serve customers better. While this is the case, there are steps airlines can take to protect customers and data. Keep reading to learn what these steps are.

Endpoint Protection

When you invest in endpoint protection compliance, the airline can control the types and number of access points to their network. They also can detect infections when they occur and collect data on the scope of a possible incident.

Certain endpoint protections are already in place for customers to help eliminate scammers and fraud, including CNAM. With endpoint protection, airlines can have this same kind of insight into what is going on with their information, data, and more.

Cloud Security

While the cloud can help reduce costs and increase productivity, it comes with unique security challenges. These are things that must be considered during the initial phase of mitigation efforts.

You also have to consider the shared responsibility for overall security. If a cloud server is misconfigured, or if there are unpatched issues, they may go on unnoticed before a security incident actually occurs.

Threat Intelligence

The right threat intelligence can help improve security and provide a warning of any possible adversaries. It can also provide insight into motivations and the way these individuals operate. When you know what to prepare for, your security team can reduce the cost of any unneeded controls while focusing their incident response efforts on the relevant scenarios that may arise.

IAM – Identity and Access Management

An IAM system provides secure access to various functions, including loyalty paint redemption, concourse applications, ticketing systems, and e-commerce. Modern IAM solutions have evolved into adaptive authentication systems that can detect anomalies by applying various contextual data about a user, including their location, which helps to strengthen access controls for third-party access and internal access. With IAM deployed, airlines will gain more secure access to the networks they are using.

Penetration Testing

When you conduct a regular penetration test, you can find and address potential risk exposure gaps. This is important to discover before attackers or hackers do. Because airlines are reliant on third-party vendors, it is more important to engage in third-party risk management. This includes security audit clauses, specified testing procedures, and vendor access monitoring. All this is going to help reduce vendor-related risks.

Security Awareness and Training

Just like modern environmental safety standards have found their way into operational platforms over time, the idea of cybersecurity awareness also has to be integrated into day-to-day work and a company’s overall culture. With so many ransomware and phishing scams present, educating your employees is key to preventing these attacks.

Make sure you are not limiting the education to just prevention strategies. You need to ensure your employees know how important incident response is. They also need to know what actions to take if they suspect some type of cyber issue has occurred.

Airline Safety and Security in a Digital World

With everything being digital today, you must take steps to safeguard your digital assets. You must also ensure security for the airline. With the information above, it is clear to see there are multiple things that airlines can do to ensure security and data protection. The important factor is that the airline must implement these practices for them to be effective. In the long run, this is going to ensure the desired results are achieved.