The defence of civilian air traffic systems from cyber threats

The use of ICT in civil aviation has increased exponentially in the last years. Digitalization and the technological tools and systems often connected to the internet constitute serious risks for aviation cyber security. Recently, government agencies and political institutions have noticed that air traffic management and control (ATM/ATC) vulnerabilities could be used to undermine national security. Against this backdrop, several related questions arise: what technologies do air traffic management and control systems rely on? Are these systems vulnerable? Which actors could pose a threat to these systems? Do they have the technological skills to conduct attacks that could compromise them? With Italy as a case study, this research investigates whether non-state actors such as terrorist organizations, hacktivists and cyber criminals could be successful in attacking Italian ATM/ATC systems.

Sponsors: Vitrociset