Boeing, the American Multinational Corporation which designs, manufactures and sells airplanes has secured a patent for a new technology that evaluates attacks on Aviation Cyber Security.
The patent number US 9,836,990B2 assigned on December 5, 2017, by the US Government was awarded to three Boeing employees from the Puget Sound Area who now can be termed as the inventors of the technology which helps pilots spot and fight cyber attacks taking place on airplanes.
Daniel Nguyen, a cybersecurity expert; Jason Shelton, a product developer at Boeing; and Timothy Mitchell, an avionics engineer from Seattle are the ones who developed the technology to educate pilots of real attacks.
Boeing says that all the present day aircrafts are loaded with flight sensors, processors, and airplane controls which share vasts amounts of data with each other via digital networks. As the amount of digital information being generated happens to be critical to operate and maintain an aircraft, cybercriminals will obviously target such systems with the progress of the time.
Boeing’s new patent will not only help pilots in educating themselves on the effects of a cyber attack but will also help them respond in an efficient way to such attacks on one or more aircraft computer systems.
All these days, pilots were trained with simulators to counter any kind of erratic weather situation, mechanical failures or onboard emergencies. From now, on Boeing’s new patent will help them react and mitigate risks associated with aviation cybersecurity threats.
Boeing said that it will incorporate all the available data onto its simulators and will also include different scenarios which could target aviation industry.
The jet maker is planning to offer its simulation as training sessions to other company pilots as it desires to take their inputs to craft pilot training modules. Such exercises will help in cascading vulnerabilities of network architecture that could cripple airplanes.
Note 1- Boeing applied for the patent almost three years ago and was awarded the rights for the technology at the end of last year.
Note 2-Boeing happens to be the largest aerospace companies in America as it has a full-time headcount of 71,881 working in Washington, United States.
