The aviation safety sector is the study and practice of managing aviation risks. It is a solid concentration of regulations, legal documents, investigations of accidents and near-miss aviation incidents. On top of them lie lessons learned and shared knowledge; reports, facts and stats forming a cognitive super vitamin, that the aviation community uses to keep their business healthy and safe.

The above concept is successful. People trust the aviation sector and consider it the safest transportation. Sadly, when it comes to cybersecurity the community feels quite exposed and vulnerable. Stats that are not available, dark corners, and a lack of lessons learned from cyber incidents are some of the aspects that blur its reputation. Wouldn’t it be better if businesses and organizations adopt the successful “how-to” of the aviation safety sector to increase their cybersecurity level and the confidence of the community?

The idea behind

The recent cyber attacks renewed the interest of the industry, academia, and the US government in a form of a Board that could investigate cyber incidents. In the spring of 2021, a workshop was organized on creating a cyber incident investigative capacity modeled on the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB). The NTSB is considered the most robust set of aviation safety programs. It acts as an independent Federal agency charged by Congress with investigating aviation accidents and major transportation incidents. NTSB investigates the causes and issues safety recommendations to prevent future disasters.

The workshop examined the feasibility of whether aviation safety procedures can be adopted by the cybersecurity sector to improve its posture. The output was a report where key findings were highlighted, research questions were recorded and a road map of recommendations was proposed. The report concluded that the cybersecurity industry does not have processes or authoritative and independent investigations whose focus is publishing (Read more...)