Analysis of the Cyber Attacks against ADS-B Perspective of Aviation Experts
Name
Camilo Andres Pantoja Viveros
Abstract
The present paper has a profound literature review of the relation between cyber security, aviation and the vulnerabilities prone by the increasing use of information systems in avia-tion realm. Civil aviation is in the process of evolution of the air traffic management sys-tem through the introduction of new technologies. Therefore, the modernization of aero-nautical communications are creating network security issues in aviation that have not been mitigated yet. The purpose of this thesis is to make a systematic qualitative analysis of the cyber-attacks against Automatic Dependent Surveillance Broadcast. With this analysis, the paper combines the knowledge of two fields which are meant to deal together with the security issues in aviation. The thesis focuses on the exploitation of the vulnerabilities of ADS-B and presents an analysis taking into account the perspective of cyber security and aviation experts. The threats to ADS-B are depicted, classified and evaluated by aviation experts, making use of interviews in order to determine the possible impact, and the ac-tions that would follow in case a cyber-attack occurs. The results of the interviews show that some attacks do not really represent a real problem for the operators of the system and that other attacks may create enough confusion due to their complexity. The experience is a determinant factor for the operators of ADS-B, because based on that a set of mitiga-tions was proposed by aviation experts that can help to cope in a cyber-attack situation. This analysis can be used as a reference guide to understand the impact of cyber security threats in aviation and the need of the research and aviation communities to broaden the knowledge and to increase the level of expertise in order to face the challenges posed by network security issues. The thesis is in English and contains 58 pages of text, 5 chapters, 17 figures, 15 tables.
Graduation Thesis language
English
Graduation Thesis type
Master - Cyber Security
Supervisor(s)
Olaf Manuel Maennel; Raimundas Matulevicius
Defence year
2016