All airlines face the same struggles and risk as many other organizations and companies. Threats affecting email, files servers, databases, website and applications are inherently at risk. However another major cyber security concern for airlines is the company reputation. No airlines, big or small, wishes to have their brand associated with hacking. In fact, a large majority of cyberattacks do not intend to compromise critical avionic systems or gain control over the aircraft. The more likely scenario is to have In-Flight Entertainment systems (IFE) or on-board Wi-Fi connectivity taken over by attackers.

Since November 1, Canada has had changes to their privacy laws, and with it, new requirements for companies, and their boards to report data breaches, both to the privacy commissioner, but also to their clients. This will mean that we will see, more than ever, headlines and stories of data breaches within our Canadian corporate world. Up to now, less than 1/10th of Canadian companies report data breaches to law enforcement, instead looking to deal with the issues internally.