Airplane data networks and security issues

Abstract

The information technology (IT) revolution, combined with people's need to access information quickly, has resulted in the explosive growth of the Internet in the past decade. Ubiquitous access to the Internet has become an essential component of a mobile workforce and multiple mechanisms are being devised to ensure seamless connectivity to corporate resources. An integrated security framework requires a careful consideration of the security features of the network within an airplane. The passenger network (PN) is used by passengers within the airplane to access network resources on the global Internet. The crew network (CrN), on the other hand, is meant for the crew of the airplane to access resources not only on the global Internet, but also to access resources within the airplane's home network. The control network (CoN) is a strictly regulated network wherein the various components of an airplane interact with each other. As such, only authorized personnel are allowed access to the CoN. In order to facilitate an efficient monitoring of network activity within the PN, the CrN and the CoN, the authors present an in-house network monitoring tool tuned towards the case of a networked airplane that provides real-time warning of impending network threats to allow the network administrators to carry out appropriate responses to intrusions. The network monitoring agents would be located within the individual networks (PN, CrN and CoN) to monitor individual networks. In addition, another sensor would be located within the aircraft access network to ascertain if malicious traffic is introduced into the CrN and/or the CoN.