CCX Technologies has expanded its onboard cybersecurity product line to business aviation, bringing to the sector what the company calls a first-of-its-kind suite of offerings, CCX said.
“We believe our new solution is the first to address inflight cybersecurity from directly onboard the aircraft,” said CCX Technologies president Chris Bartlett. “Until now, aircraft cybersecurity, if implemented at all, has been from the ground, making it difficult to know what’s really happening inflight. Protecting the network is not a “once-and-done” activity, which is why we built this product line to perpetually monitor and defend the aircraft’s onboard network.”
Bartlett noted that the three offerings—Secure, Route, and Connect—use the company’s AP-250 unit, configured as aviation’s first cybersecurity-focused router, as an inline appliance. The offerings consist of cybersecurity and connectivity services, hardware, and technical support for both the cabin and flight deck.
Reliance on connectivity, mobile devices, and the constant stream of new vulnerabilities increases the number of “threat vectors” that ultimately lead to the compromise of onboard networks. The ability to monitor both the cabin network and flight deck avionics including databuses such as Arinc-429 gives the flight department new visibility into the onboard network security. The use of CCX’s onboard cybersecurity product makes it easier to stay ahead of compliance needs and achieve future aviation authority cybersecurity guidelines such as RTCA DO-326 and ED-202. Proactively monitoring, detecting, and acting on cyber threats, the offerings continually protect the business jet’s onboard network and passenger data as new vulnerabilities emerge, said CCX.
“All of our offerings, Secure, Route, and Connect, come with a choice of cybersecurity service plans,” Bartlett explained. “We understand flight departments will each have their own security needs which is why we will work with them to evaluate their risk level and help determine their best option. As a baseline, some of the features they all come with include an encrypted link to the ground, threat alerts to designated personnel, vulnerability scanner, access to our proprietary dashboard, and recurring updates to custom rulesets.”