Ransomware attacks against the UK civil aviation sector have risen over the last 12 months, according to new research.
Bridewell surveyed more than 500 staff responsible for cyber security at UK critical national infrastructure (CNI) organisations from civil aviation, energy, transport, finance and central government.
6 in 10 (61 per cent) admitted to having been on the receiving end of a ransomware attack in the last year, while 39 per cent cited lost data and revenue as the primary consequences of a breach.
Daniel Card, fellow of BCS, The Chartered Institute for IT, said: “These figures are pointing to something being off in the way we are, as a society approaching cyber defence.
“We need to step away from the legacy mindsets many organisations have. There is a reason we tend to separate cyber defence from information security.
“Organisations need to adapt to rapidly combat threats. But it’s not an easy task by any stretch.”
Amid the spike in ransomware threats, Bridewell reports that phishing attacks are also widespread across the sector, averaging 21 incidents per year.
According to Bridewell, this dual threat is putting immense pressure on the sector to enhance its cyber defences and response strategies.
Anthony Young, CEO of Bridewell, said: “The aviation sector’s global presence and role in the world’s economy makes it a particularly vulnerable industry.
“But ransomware and phishing attacks are having a detrimental impact, and lengthy response times are only adding to the damage caused.
“With nation-state attacks also posing a significant threat, the sector must fortify its cyber defences with incident response and reporting, defined risk management practices, regular audits and training programmes to futureproof its operations.”
He added: “It’s promising that the sector is already adopting AI-driven solutions and planning to invest more in cyber security in order to protect itself.”
The research suggests the sector is struggling to react quickly to cyber incidents and mitigate the damage they cause.
Bridewell found that while phishing attacks are dealt with in an average timeframe of 5.18 hours, responses to ransomware take almost twice as long at 9.12 hours. Nation-state attacks take even longer at 18.21 hours on average.
Card added: “Phishing is the starting point to many campaigns and is going to be an ever present threat.
“Organisations must ensure backups are well defended and common attacks are, where possible, broken… and for those that have invested in protection, detection and response I would expect hackers to be unsuccessful.
“But, unfortunately, lots of organisations aren’t quite as defended as they might believe.”
Despite the company’s concern about the sector’s delayed response to these attacks, Bridewell said civil aviation organisations are actively enhancing their cyber security measures.
Almost every organisation (95 per cent) is leveraging AI-driven tools, including AI-enhanced endpoint protection, automated incident response solutions and network behaviour analysis – while 50 per cent of organisations plan to increase their IT security spend compared to last year.
