CYBER
SECURITY
SAFETY thirst
Just how safe is the cargo operation? With the rise of cybercrime, the sector has had
to adapt, notes the Editor.
What’s the biggest
cyber threat facing
companies in the air
freight and logistics sector? If
January’s warning is taken at
face value, the US Department
of Homeland Security thinks
that the next challenge might
come from nation states such
as Iran, which has a history
of launching large, and
occasionally disruptive, cyber
attacks against US companies
as a way of exerting political
pressure.
Moreno Carullo, Co-founder
and CTO, Nozomi Networks*,
picks up the thread.
“The alert talks about
‘critical national infrastructure’
but nobody in the air logistics
sector should be under any
illusions that this now includes
almost any global supply chain,
logistics or fi nancial sector
company connected to the US
or its allies.
“Air logistics is unusually
exposed to unpredictable
like the same criminal threat that’s stalked companies for years
but recently these crime groups have become more organised,
more aggressive and a lot more successful. The good news is that
cybercriminals tend to focus on common weaknesses, which in
theory offers defenders clues as to how to stop them. The bad news
is that cybercriminals have become very adept at spotting these
weaknesses before the defenders do.”
Finding the way in
Cybercriminals, Carullo avers, always try the front door fi rst; here,
password-stealing phishing attacks remain legion, but as these
entries have been better secured, so attackers more often try to
sneak in the back way instead.
“For example, ransomware is now a systemic threat
to every and any business, with a popular target being
unsecured Remote Desktop Protocol (or RDP) or Virtual
Network Computing (VNC) ports. Enabled for remote
support, these are often quickly set up and forgotten
about. Competent cybercriminals can fi nd these
open ports quite easily and use them to
enter networks without being detected.
“Another popular target is Virtual
Private Network (VPN) servers, a ubiquitous
technology for connecting remote staff to
head offi ce applications. Numerous recent
ransomware attacks have used this method,
typically exploiting known software
vulnerabilities to compromise networks
from the inside over periods of months.
threats because there are so
many moving parts attackers
can aim for. This includes
commercial entities such as
airlines, airports and aviation
infrastructure, parts suppliers
and, in an age of growing
e-aviation, even the aircraft
themselves.
“In any business sector,
understanding cybersecurity
threats is always about analysing
the motivations that underpin
them. For nation states, these
are primarily about grabbing
intelligence or intellectual
property, although those
connected to the Middle East
have tended to be spectacular
incidents designed to infl ict
maximum economic damage.”
The threat from the commercial
cybercriminal
“Despite this, the evidence
from recent incidents strongly
suggests that commercial
cybercriminals still pose the
biggest threat. This might look
38 April 2020 www.airlogisticsinternational.com
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