Authorities at San Francisco International Airport revealed that unknown threat actors hacked two of its websites, in March 2020, to steal usernames and passwords of its employees and contractors.
In an official notice, the authorities confirmed that its websites SFOConnect.com, which provides updates about the airport to passengers, and SFOConstruction.com, which contains information about construction and building projects at the airport, were compromised in a cyberattack. It stated that hackers inserted malicious computer code on their websites to steal user login credentials. It’s believed that attackers could use these stolen credentials to gain authorized access to the airport’s network.
SFOConstruction.com posted a notice exaplaining what exactly happened and what information was compromised by hackers.
The notice says: “Users possibly impacted by this attack include those accessing these websites from outside the airport network through Internet Explorer on a Windows-based personal device or a device not maintained by SFO.”
In response to the attack, the malicious code was removed from the affected websites. SFOConnect.com and
SFOConstruction.com were taken offline for maintenance and users were given instructions on how to log in.. The airport also forced a reset of all SFO related email and network passwords on Monday, March 23, 2020.
“If you visited either website outside of SFO’s managed networks and were using Internet Explorer on a Windows-based device, you should change the password you use to log in to that device. You should also consider changing any credentials that use the same username and password combination,” the notice added.
Aviation cybersecurity market poised for growth
ResearchAndMarkets.com released a report titled Aviation Cyber Security Market – Growth, Trends, and Forecast (2019 – 2024). According to the report, the aviation cyber security market is expected to register a CAGR of around 11% during the forecast period of 2019-2024.
The aviation sector has benefitting from the increasing level of connectivity and digitization across the value chain. The enabling technological advancements in the aviation sector are creating enormous opportunities to have better customer service, security, flight efficiency, operations and the passenger experience both on the ground and in the air.
The growth of the Aviation sector is attracting more hackers. But it is also an opportunity for cybersecurity professionals to work in this sector and strengthen security of airport IT infrastructure.
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Aviation Cyber Security Market expected to register 11% CAGR during 2019-2024