Professional Pilot, March 2016

PED SECURITY NEEDS Vulnerability of hand held devices in the cockpit M ost people who work in technical jobs for their companies never think of themselves as security risks But too often we are lax in handling computer access and critical proprietary information in todays computer based society Too many tech oriented individuals just do something because they can and never stopping to analyze if they should for example enter personal information on the Internet or on unsecured computers Just consider a supposed secure organization such as a big city police department that has assigned many weapons to its officers but the department cant tell the police chief or the mayor in real time the disposition of each of these weapons The same is true of commercial aviation manufacturers corporate aviation departments and many other organizations including military activities When you are carrying a company laptop or tablet the responsibility for protecting the critical proprietary information contained in such device is yours How many companies have systems that tell management to whom have been assigned computers Do the assigned devices allow tracking control access and NOTAM system updates Do they allow notifications and run history reports as appropriate to both the end user and administrators Do they communicate status changes or action items to the system administrator Security areas of concern in business aviation Electronic flight bags EFBs aircraft and system manuals assigned to tech reps flight schedules passenger manifests 36 PROFESSIONAL PILOT March 2016 and flight training of aircraft systems available online all constitute sensitive information The bigger question is How could or should this vulnerability be handled And understand this fact Software alone will not provide total security because security is not just hi tech Just look at the damage caused to the government by WikiLeaks when all that supposedly secure info was published Now guess how many people misplace their company electronic devices Can the issuing company shut those devices down remotely Probably not Remember the first Airbus crash was due to a computer problem Other crashes also occurred before manufacturers got the bugs out Things that could happen American Airlines was the first commercial carrier to deploy electronic flight bags EFBs and discontinue paper charts in 2013 At that time thousands of iPads were deployed to replace the 3000 page 35 pound paper based flight ops manuals in AAs Boeing 777 767 757 737 and MD80 airliners The change saved the airline some 400000 gallons of fuel an estimate 12 million annually However during April 2015 AA experienced 24 flight delays due to a faulty 3rd party app that crashed various pilots iPads EFBs have by all accounts been a big positive change for pilots and airlines Via this EFB technology pilots now have what they need at their fingertips Lightweight tablets replace heavy paper based operating manuals and navigational charts With the move towards tablets the American Airlines found that they also reduced a large source of pilot injuries carrying those heavy paper packs But the temptation of technology in the cockpit can pose problems as well As a result the FAA initially banned pilots personal non essential use of electronic devices laptops tablets phones in the cockpit to prevent flightcrew member distraction during flights Are these small devices safe in the cockpit And so the question Do tablets introduce elements of risk that are not acceptable in a post 9 11 age I emphasize in the context of some bring your own technical device program or programs whereby tablets are assigned but not regularly monitored by security personnel Is the risk inherent in the tablet itself in the program protocols or in both Should we be concerned How concerned should we be Before attempting to answer these questions let me point out that at FL350 all seems to be clear The electronic device most likely a tablet is probably in use and performing as expected Both pilots and airlines now seem to be satisfied with the move and the cost savings Electronic devices glitches and hacking can cause problems ranging from pilfered information to aircraft accidents By Dan Kormanik ATP CFII Falcon 900EX Pilots reviewing mission flightplan on their PEDs While handy and useful in most cases these PEDs can also pose critical security risks that the issuing companies need to address