Cyber Threats to Aerospace and Defense
Cyber Threat Conditions in Aerospace and Defense
As one can imagine, the aerospace and defense industry is full of highly sensitive data. When you consider their primary customers, namely the federal government and federal space programs, it’s no surprise that the kind of information commonly transmitted is extremely classified by nature.
Aerospace and defense operations are directly tied to the protection of our nation and beyond, so such organizations are working within a very treacherous environment. Because information exchanges that occur within aerospace and defense have the potential to impact the entire country, the stakes for strong cyber security programs are extraordinarily high. The pressure to prevent data breaches is only compounded by the dire need to safeguard intellectual property, supply and distribution chains, employees, and customers.
Industry-specific Cyber Dangers
By virtue of the classified constitution of aerospace and defense, while the attack surface is not necessarily more expansive, it is certainly more dangerous. Advanced persistent threat actors, often in the interests of nation states, are a very real ongoing cyber threat working against aerospace and defense, and it’s a risky game of tag. The goals of APT are intended to have far greater impacts than your typical socially engineered hack. The objectives of such a malicious actor could include obtaining invaluable intellectual property, affecting the global arms market, and potentially impacting the defense systems of other countries.
Beyond that, aerospace and defense is susceptible to all of the same methods of data breach other industries are. Further, multiple regulatory and compliance requirements have to be managed in order to align with a framework for reliable information security operations.
Facing the Security Challenges of Aerospace and Defense
Beyond maintaining compliance, there are a multitude of threats to protect against among A&D. Cyberattacks are an ongoing problem, and new attack methods are being developed by the minute. Given that organizations operating within the A&D sector work at a high level of public exposure and handle such valuable data, decision makers absolutely must ensure robust security programs.
Public key infrastructure works as a security groundwork for aerospace and defense organizations, enabling products and services to meet regulatory requirements and secure sensitive assets. If your business has questions about your security strategy or would like to evaluate PKI solutions, CSS welcomes you to reach out to our Aerospace and Defense Cyber Security experts.
