In the next decade, commercial aviation will see Next Generation ATM (NextGEN), Single European Skies ATM Research (SESAR), and others utilizing Internet-based air-to-ground communication links for advanced “air traffic control” (ATC) communications.Commercial Aviation Cyber Security: Current State and Essential Reading highlights some of the major issues the industry must confront if the vision of a new, advanced air traffic management is to come to fruition. This will require standardization work to identify key components with built-in cyber security that will guide prototype testing, functionality, and prioritizing implementation efforts to solve the roadblocks to global interoperability.

The ten technical papers selected for Commercial Aviation Cyber Security: Current State and Essential Reading span the last decade’s work in commercial aviation cyber security, and aircraft cyber-technologies. Cyber security cannot be “bolted on” as an after-thought as commercial aviation begins to move to the automated management of national airspaces.