Slowly but surely our airports are starting to return to normality as travel restrictions ease even more for people arriving into England, Scotland and Northern Ireland.
Fully vaccinated travellers are now exempt from quarantine when returning from France, Spain has kept its place on the amber list, and India is among four countries being removed from the red list. Great news for the tourist industry but there is a darker more hidden danger that is threatening airports and their supply chains – cyber criminals!
Airports play a key role in the regional and global supply chain process, moving goods from market to market. Air cargo is used regularly for many sectors including industrial machinery, seafood and pharmaceuticals. Globalization and e-commerce have further generated new opportunities for the aviation sector, including a wider range of goods being shipped by air such as electronics, high fashion clothing and consumer products.
And its these supply chains which present the weakest links to cyber criminals, with ransomware being their chosen method of attack. Once identifying their victim, these skilful individuals will infiltrate its system through an outside partner such as a service provider or supplier who has access to sensitive data and from there, they will encrypt the targets files.
Here, Professor Buck Rogers who is Head of Cyber and Information Security for a large defence contractor, talks to the ECRC’s Head of Cyber and Innovation, Fiona Bail about supply chain vulnerabilities and what risks they face.