New and Emerging Threats to Civil Aviation and the Way Ahead

Date: 27th of September, 2010

Aws Al KhanjariDirector Aviation Security & Infrastructure

Agenda

1Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

2 Staff Screening

3 Cargo Security

Sharing of Threat Information and Increasing Security Work within Regional Organisations4

New and Emerging Threats

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

“a criminal act perpetrated by the use of computers and telecommunications capabilities, resulting in violence, destruction and/or disruption of services to create fear by causing confusion and uncertainty within a given population, with the goal of influencing a government or population to conform to a particular political, social or ideological agenda”

New and Emerging Threats

Definition

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

Terrorists taking over the air traffic control system to cause an aircraft to crash or two planes to collide in flight.

New and Emerging Threats

Scenario

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

Civil Aviation is an extensively interconnected international infrastructure, interconnecting the world and spanning almost every country on earth.

Civil Aviation infrastructure is extraordinarily dependent on computer-telecommunications information systems; i.e. air traffic control, navigation, reservations, aircraft flight control.

A collapse of public confidence in civil aviation safety will have serious global economic and social consequences.

New and Emerging Threats

Why would Civil Aviation be a target

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

Civil aviation systems are quite secure because of significant custom-engineered components not easily accessible or understandable by attackers.

Civil aviation systems are inherently robust, having strong back-up systems which are regularly tested in the course of circumstances such as power cuts.

New and Emerging Threats

How secure are civil aviation systems

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

New systems are engineered or configured within an elaborate security architecture.

The possibility of system failure or breakdown is a central feature in the design and addressed through the inclusion of redundant or parallel systems and subsystem.

New and Emerging Threats

How secure are civil aviation systems

Cyber Terrorism and Civil Aviation

“The insider problem” : the potential for tampering with or modifying specifications in installation or maintenance manuals and flight management systems by people having intimate knowledge of a given system.

Attacks on areas that are more easily targeted but could disrupt civil aviation operations on a broad scale such as power distribution, communication lines, administrative systems.

New and Emerging Threats

What are the vulnerabilities

Be Part of the Chagne

“Once a new technology rolls over you, if you’re not part of the steamroller, you’re part of the road.”

Stewart Brand

New and Emerging Threats

Staff Screening

“ all persons, including flight and cabin crew, as well as airport staff must undergo screening before being allowed access to an aircraft, sterile area or security restricted area.”

New and Emerging Threats

Doc 8973, seventh edition- 2009

Staff Screening

Because staff screening has shown to be a very sensitive issue (privacy concerns, favoritism, being a bad colleague, etc.) it is still not implemented at all airports.

Operational and infrastructural reasons are sometimes used as excuses not to screen all staff working at the airport.

New and Emerging Threats

The challenges

Staff Screening

Incidents show that airline or airport employees, or persons posing as such, from time to time still facilitate or perpetrate acts of unlawful interference!

New and Emerging Threats

The inside threat:

Cargo Screening

Al Maktoum International Airport, which once complete will handle up to 120 million passengers and 12 million tons of air cargo per year. This includes the first stage of DWC Al Maktoum International Airport Cargo, with a capacity to serve 5 million passengers and handle over 600,000 tons of cargo annually.

New and Emerging Threats

Phenomenal Growth:

Cargo Screening

New and Emerging Threats

Vast Facilities:

Introduction of vast cargo screening facilities that is considered the main part of the infrastructure.

Introduction of Air Cargo Regulated Agents.

Moving the screening point from the airport to the shipping agent.

The Way Ahead

Sharing of threat information and increasing security work within regional organisations.

Mitigating and eliminating threats to civil aviation security can only be achieved through the concerted effort of aviation security regulators of all states.

The flow of critical information sharing between states about new and innovative methods to target civil aviation should be increased.

New and Emerging Threats

Increasing Regional Security Work

The UAE supports the concept of creating a specialist programme to foster unity, harmonization and cooperation among Middle East states in the interest of enhancing aviation security in the Region, which will contribute towards dealing with challenges and threats facing civil aviation security.

New and Emerging Threats

Increasing Regional Security Work

In 2010 the UAE has been elected chair of the Executive Council of the Arab Civil Aviation Commission (ACAC). Especially under the current circumstances of the industry ACAC will play the role for which it was established, namely to develop general planning of civil aviation among Arab countries and enhance cooperation and coordination between member states

New and Emerging Threats

Increasing Regional Security Work

The Middle East Regional Aviation Security Conference in 2010 issued the "Abu Dhabi Joint Declaration" for aviation security, providing for a global strategy and key principles and standards to deal with aviation security challenges and actively contributing to increasing cooperation and coordination among Middle East states and member states of ICAO and enhancing their abilities to provide highest levels of aviation security.

New and Emerging Threats

Thank You