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UAE Signs New ICAO Aviation Cybersecurity Collaboration

posted on: Apr 16, 2022

Authority officials from the ICAO (International Civil Aviation Organization) and the Minister of Cabinet Affairs in the United Arab Emirates recently signed a new settlement. The agreement will form a new UAE-ICAO collaboration to boost aviation cybersecurity techniques and inclusion for aviation partners in the Middle East. 

The signing of the ICAO-UAE Agreement

The agreement was signed during an International Civil Aviation Organization assignment to the United Arab Emirates last week, the area where Salvatore Sciacchitano, the ICAO Council boss, discussed the High-Level Conference on Cybersecurity in Civil Aviation of the UAE. The function plays a core role in the World Government Summit annually in Dubai. 

During his speech, Sciacchitano addressed the presence of various legacy networks and structures that contains a system of systems or information architecture. Often, legacy systems can comprise obsolete software and hardware that is hard to replace. Further, they can present deep-rooted security risks and may not support encryption best practices and the latest security. 

The Covid-19 pandemic triggered a massive reduction in the volume of passenger-carrying flights between 2020 and 2021. However, a Euro control report on the advanced cybersecurity knowledge collection initiative established a considerable increase in the other cyber assaults that aviation companies in Europe disclosed to the firm. Some of the latest cybercrimes that have disrupted aviation service suppliers, airports, and airways have demonstrated how tremendous the system is for cybercriminals. As technologies evolve, cybercriminals are also advancing their tactics. 

Managers must be proactive enough to protect their systems from getting compromised. One of the most effective ways is by adopting the right tools such as VPN to enhance protection. Remember, looking for the best VPN to hide your IP address and keep you anonymous online is not an easy task. However, managers can achieve it by conducting extensive research and consulting widely. In February, airport floor supplier Swissport, which operates in 285 airports located in 45 international locations, experienced a ransomware strike that compromised a percentage of its essential information sharing processes, triggering a downtime.  

An article released by Newsweek demonstrated how the private awareness of over 4 million commuters was compromised during a cyber vulnerability targeting various airways that operate along the Asia Pacific region and Malaysia Airlines, Air India, Finnair, and Singapore Airlines. 

According to Sciacchitano, Covid-19 has also triggered increased public demand for touch-free technologies to guarantee a safe and healthy travel experience. This means that we can deal with a new flow of classified digitalization. Further, more system of systems risks is increasing. 

Collaboration Between UAE and ICAO

The ICAO-UAE aviation cybersecurity agreement will focus on the partnership between the two factions that promote knowledge and data distribution resulting in accelerators, enhanced cybersecurity, and advanced civil aviation practices in acknowledging the ICAO’s introduction of the new agreement. 

ICAO’s contract with the United Arab Emirates associates is the firm’s newest development in regulating how worldwide aviation enterprise acknowledges and manages cyber vulnerabilities on aviation property. The firm implemented A40-10 Assembly Resolution, focusing on cybersecurity in civil aviation across the 40th conference of the ICAO congregation that requires ICAO member-states to adopt the ICAO aviation cybersecurity approach, first introduced in 2019 October. Further, Sciacchitano requests more ICAO member-states engage in 2010’s Beijing Protocol and Convention to establish a globally recognized framework for countering cyberattacks on global civil aviation as crimes. 

ICAO has been creating a global aviation trust approach to promote the cyber resilience and cybersecurity of THE civil aviation sector, focusing on the air navigation domain. Sciacchitano states that the project is among the most critical in recent years. It’s made to secure and promote the global exchange of digital aviation data. 

It will comprise technical specifications, procedures, and material guidance supporting the present and future international network specifications. 

The Significance of the Cybersecurity Threat in Aviation

The standard cybersecurity report in the cybersecurity industry has gained tremendous digitization benefits in the past ten years. However, it has increased some technical and social vulnerabilities unheard of previously. The report also reiterates that any disruption can blow up to cause global impacts, considerable reputational and financial damage, and compromise security. 

Finally

Today, nearly everyone can access the internet with ease. With permanent connectivity comes increased threats targeting data and communication nodes in aircraft, expected to produce more than 90 million terabytes in data. 

The main challenge remains to protect data transfers between the plane and the ground, in the cabin and cockpit, and between onboard systems and sensors. Different players in the aviation industry are interconnected and interdependent. In this case, cybersecurity involves securing digital data, websites, networks, computers, services, and portals transporting and facilitating data access. 

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