TSA Issues Urgent Directive to Make Aviation More Cyber Resilient

The Transportation Security Administration (TSA) announced a new set of cybersecurity requirements this week for airport and aircraft operators. The initiative constitutes “an emergency action,” the TSA explained in a press release, urgent “because of persistent cybersecurity threats against US critical infrastructure, including the aviation sector.” This announcement comes hot on the heels of the White House’s National Cybersecurity Strategy, published March 2. It’s all part of a broader government effort to increase cyber resilience across critical industries. Back in July, for example, the TSA issued near word-for-word similar requirements for the rail industry. As Robert Carter Langston, press secretary for the TSA, tells Dark Reading: “This amendment to the aviation security programs extends similar cybersecurity performance-based requirements that currently apply to other transportation system critical infrastructure.” “It’s good that the TSA is codifying these requirements,” says Mike Parkin, senior technical engineer at Vulcan Cyber, “though it remains to be seen how it will affect airline passengers.”

https://www.darkreading.com/ics-ot/tsa-issues-urgent-directive-aviation-cyber-resilient