Local Area Networks (LANs) in Aircraft - FTP Directory Listing - FAA

4. NETWORK RISKS.
This section specifically discusses network security issues that are directly relevant to airborne
safety and security within networked environments. Two papers authored by Daniel Mehan [18
and 19], the former FAA Chief Information Officer (CIO), provide an important context for the
material discussed in this section. These papers describe the cumulative processes needed to
create a secure and safe NAS environment. These processes are partially summarized in figure
6. The majority of the topics covered in this section directly focus on network system aspects of
“Cyber Hardening of System and Network Elements,” shown in figure 6, of a total protection
system. Many other aspects of NAS safety and security are not addressed within this section and
are only briefly addressed by this study.
Architecture and Engineering
Personnel
Security
Physical
Security
Cyber Hardening of
System and Network Elements
Compartmentalization
Redundancy
Awareness and Execution
Figure 6. The FAA Five Layers of System Protection [18]
Reference 20 also provides very helpful concepts and background information for the aircraft
network safety and security topics presented in this section and appendix A.
It is important to recognize that network threats are always evolving. An indeterminate number
of network threats exist. These network threats can mutate quite rapidly. For example, the
following is an example of a current network threat that did not exist the year before this study
was written.
“File encrypting Trojans are becoming so complex that security companies could
soon be powerless to reverse their effects, a new report from Kaspersky Lab said.
19