Given the range of threats and the catastrophic impact an attack could have on an airline, strategizing to reduce the risk of breaches and implementing plans to deal with them once they occur should be prioritized at board level. We consider some recent examples of cyber incidents faced by the industry.

Whilst cybersecurity has ranked (or should have ranked) increasingly high on many boards’ agendas for some time now, the risks associated with an attack on an airline places them in somewhat of a unique position. In particular, should an airline suffer a cybersecurity attack, this might not solely result in the loss of data, whether that be customer records, financial details of customers or sensitive details about company revenue; rather it could well impact an airline’s core operations, with cyberattacks having the potential to seriously disrupt and endanger the safety of flights.