Airports Council International (ACI) World has today (April 4) published a new resource to help operators combat any risk posed by employees looking to exploit their position of trust to harm the airport and its occupants.
ACI’s Addressing Insider Threat handbook provides airports with advice, information and examples, drawing on the experiences of airports around the world on combatting insider threats. It also identifies best practices to form a robust multi-layered security system.
The handbook explores the current global threat in this area, including cybersecurity risks, and offers a range of different measures and solutions that can be tailored to the unique local conditions and challenges faced by airports around the world.
“Safety and security are top priorities for our industry and recent events show that terrorists continue to try to exploit aviation to do harm, not only from outside the system, but also from inside it,” said Angela Gittens, director general, ACI World. “The insider threat is posed by people who, willingly or not, facilitate these attacks, where their position of trust and understanding of the system allows them to exploit any vulnerabilities.
“The most efficient mitigation may well be to leverage our own airport communities. The vast majority of airport workers are well-intentioned. We need to ensure that the security culture is strong, and that staff are motivated to perform well, are willing to challenge others, and to be challenged.
“We believe a risk-based and outcomes-focused approach to security is best for the industry and we should allow different mitigation techniques to be in place at different airports so long as they achieve a similarly high level of security,” she said.
While not all of the measures identified in the handbook will be the responsibility of the airport or appropriate in every context, they will provide useful context for discussions with other stakeholders. ACI also provides a range of training courses for airport members via the ACI Global Training curriculum tailored to airports’ operational needs.