The airfreight industry finds itself facing a rapidly growing threat. Efficient and quick transport of goods is essential in a fast-paced, global economy – and hackers know that. As the technology sector evolves at an accelerating pace, cyber security is becoming an increasingly critical issue. And while cyber attacks targeting airlines and passengers’ personal data might be more common and widely reported, air cargo is also at high risk.
Data gathered by Resilinc’s EventWatchAI – an AI-powered supply chain risk monitoring system – revealed a 24% YoY increase in the number of cyber attack alerts across all industries it monitors in the first half of this year. And the aerospace industry, specifically, saw an even more alarming jump of 64%. In fact, aerospace was the fifth largest industry impacted by cyber attacks in all of 2022.
In the last few years, several high-profile cyber attacks on airports have been carried out globally. Last year, for instance, airport ground services and air cargo operator Swissport was hit by a ransomware attack that disrupted operations at Zurich Airport in Switzerland. And in a more recent incident, Europe’s air traffic control authority Eurocontrol had to battle a cyber attack claimed by pro-Russian hackers. Although there was no disturbance to air traffic at the time, this posed a serious threat to European aviation.
