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Satnews Daily
April 3rd, 2017

Airbus and SITA Collaborate to Provide Advanced Cybersecurity Services for Air Transport Industry


Cyberscurity is a sobering reality and two major organizations have collaborated to provide critical information to the air transport industry should their safety become compromised.

Airbus and SITA have launched new Security Operations Center Services customized for the specific needs of the air transport industry. These new incident detection services will provide airlines, airports and other air transport industry stakeholders with information about unusual cyber activity that may impact their businesses.

All these services have been developed to specifically meet an ever increasing demand for cybersecurity in this industry becoming one of its top priorities. Highlighting the importance of proactive cybersecurity, SITA’s Airline IT Trends Survey 2016 shows that 91 percent of airlines plan to invest in cybersecurity programs over the next three years.

By joining forces SITA and Airbus can provide the most advanced cyber security solution for the air transport industry. Almost every airline and airport in the world is a customer of SITA and it delivers solutions for the most extensive communications network. 

Airbus works with companies, critical national infrastructures, governments and defense organizations to detect, analyze and counter increasingly sophisticated cyberattacks.  Together they will use their expertise to detect cyber activity relevant to airlines and airports. In case, the joint Security Operations Center Services will provide appropriate containment and remedial action ensuring that a company’s digital assets are safe from attack. 

Barbara Dalibard, CEO of SITA remarked that as an industry we need to move faster in developing new cybersecurity solutions that mitigate the risk of ever-changing threats. This requires constant collaboration and innovation, but with SITA and Airbus CyberSecurity uniquely placed at the heart of the air transport industry, we can facilitate innovation and information-sharing through services such as the Security Operations Center Service, providing solutions our customers demand and need.

François Lavaste, Head of Airbus CyberSecurity added his comments that air transport is part of the Airbus DNA, so it was only natural that they joined forces with SITA to adapt their innovative cyber security solutions to this new service area, which is experiencing exponential growth. Their standard solution mainly combines real-time monitoring services for applications and communications dedicated to air transport and incident response services.

The joint Airbus and SITA Security Operations Center Service is the first of a new portfolio of cybersecurity products and services being developed by SITA. The portfolio will help airlines and airports identify, detect and react to cyber threats while protecting their company assets from attack.

In addition to creating a customized portfolio for the industry, SITA in 2016 identified cybersecurity as one of five keys areas where it is exploring new solutions on behalf of its members as well as the wider air transport community.