Cyber security in the aviation industry, especially in relation to onboard aircraft systems, presents unique challenges in its implementation and management. The cyber threat model is constantly evolving and will continually present new and different challenges to the aircraft operator in responding to new cyber threats without either invoking a lengthy software update and re-certification process or limiting aircraft-to-ground communications to the threatened system or systems. This presentation discusses a number of system architectural options and developing technologies that could be considered to enhance the aircraft cyber protection and defensive capabilities of onboard systems as well as to minimize the effort associated with certification/re-certification. Some of these limit the aircraft?s vulnerabilities or in cyber terms, its ?threat surface?. Others offer the potential to respond almost immediately to new cyber threats with the capability to install new or update existing onboard system protections with possibly no or minimal impacts to the aircraft?s certification. Generally the concepts and technologies could be applicable to any aircraft system whether non-critical or critical.

Presenter
Terry Lee Davis, iJet Onboard