The Solution to Securing Aircraft from Cyberattack

In our blog post, The Future of Aerospace in the Cyber Threat World, we discussed the complexity of dealing with several generations of technology and upgrade cycles that occur throughout the typical 20- to 30-year lifespan of an aircraft. While most modern platforms were designed for cybersecurity from the ground up, the continuous evolution of the cyberattack environment in combination with the continued cycles of aircraft systems upgrades require a new approach. It’s crucial to have the ability to run vulnerability and penetration tests on an environment that mimics the reality of the current cyber threat situation as the aircraft systems are upgraded to add new features and innovations. This capability is offered with Performance JETS.

Performance JETS is a high-performance virtualization technology designed from the ground up for complex, safety-critical environments like aviation. JETS is the ideal solution to address the challenging mix of old and new equipment found in aircraft. Each JETS installation is tailored by Performance Software engineers for the unique environment under test. Working with the specification and design documentation, we build a virtual environment that exactly matches the target hardware and the hardware/software interface.

With JETS, security teams can run powerful, comprehensive vulnerability and penetration tests in emulated environments that are accurate at the component, subsystem, and system level. Operating in an emulated environment enables testers to run many more scenarios than would be possible with live aircraft, while at the same time giving them the freedom to probe for vulnerabilities without fear of damaging equipment or creating other harm.

Using legacy approaches, even fixing known vulnerabilities becomes a time-consuming and expensive proposition. Before a patch can be deployed it must be extensively tested to ensure it functions as intended in all scenarios and without unintended consequences. JETS can shave months off that process enabling the industry to bring vital fixes live faster, less expensively, and with greater confidence.

In addition to revolutionizing testing, Performance JETS’ extremely accurate virtualization capabilities enable real-time monitoring of live systems to detect and foil cyberattacks. By running as part of a complete virtualized system underneath a live system, an embedded security protocol can inspect packets as they move through a system and even capture suspicious packets for quarantine or destruction. Such a virtual embedded security system is invisible to malware or intruders making it potentially more effective in stopping trouble before it happens.

To learn more about virtualization and how Performance JETS can transform aviation security, contact Performance Software today.

cyber threatsoftware exposure