The director general of Airports Council International (ACI) Europe, Olivier Jankovec, has warned that recent AI developments have altered the cyber risk landscape.
Jankovec was referring to developments concerning new AI capabilities, which are able to autonomously identify, chain and exploit vulnerabilities at unprecedented speed and scale.
“Europe’s airports operate in an increasingly complex geopolitical environment marked by persistent cyber threats and hybrid warfare activities,” the director general said, noting that as airport environments are highly complex ecosystems involving many stakeholders, a weakness introduced anywhere in the supply chain could have operational consequences far beyond a single organization.
“The emergence of Mythos-class threats makes clear that cybersecurity resilience must now be collective across the entire aviation ecosystem,” Jankovec continued. “Therefore, ACI Europe expects all technology partners, managed service providers, software suppliers and relevant actors supporting and involved in airport operations to actively anticipate this new generation of AI-enabled threats and implement appropriate mitigation measures without delay.”
Jankovec set out a number of measures to help bolster cyber defenses in light of these new risks, including:
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reduced attack surface exposure;
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reinforced identity, segmentation and zero-trust principles;
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risk-based vulnerability management process;
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strong software supply chain security able to meet as early as possible the EU Cyber Resilience Act requirements and objectives (entry into force September 2027);
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where possible, effective detection and remediation using Mythos-class AI tools for all future products and services as well as in retrofit programs to discover hidden existing vulnerabilities; and
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robust resilience and recovery capabilities.
“The aviation sector has always demonstrated resilience in the face of evolving risks. With the right level of cooperation, transparency and shared responsibility across the entire ecosystem, airports remain confident in their ability to adapt to this new cybersecurity environment,” Jankovec said.
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