Evaluation Engineering - 32

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TECHNOLOGY INSIGHTS

CYBERSECURITY

RAMPS UP AS ELECTRONIC
INFRASTRUCTURE SURGES
By Ken Cormier, Managing Editor
With the rapid influx of electronics
into all aspects of daily life, and the
constant movement of massive amounts
of data, cybersecurity becomes ever more
important. In test and measurement, cybersecurity breaches via an infected instrument are events of concern, possible
with instruments that contain software
accessible or modifiable via a remote or
internet connection, according to Ron
Yazma, vice president of software engineering at Marvin Test Solutions. "For
ATE systems employed in military/aerospace applications, the need for cybersecurity is acute since not only can the test
system be subjected to a cyberattack but
a mission-critical UUT being tested on
the ATE could become infected," Yazma
said in EE's Cybersecurity Special Report
in May.1 Here are some news briefs about
recent developments in cybersecurity:

U.S. addresses threats to aviation
Following cyberattacks on critical infrastructure such as power grids, the
Department of Homeland Security is
spearheading a program, along with
the Pentagon and Transportation
Department, to test airliners' vulnerability to hacking, according to a report
in Forbes. 2 Although few details are

EVALUATION ENGINEERING DECEMBER 2019

available, the DHS has confirmed that
electronic system testing will be performed on new and older airliners. Up
to now, cyberattacks on airlines have focused on IT and passenger data, but the
latest move by government agencies could
indicate the detection of an attack threat.
In a separate development, the U.S. Air
Force is taking a role in detecting security
issues within commercial aviation systems, some of which are employed by the
military. In a statement to the Wall Street
Journal, Will Roper, Air Force assistant
secretary for acquisition, technology and
logistics, said, "If we don't probe first, our
adversaries will. We've been a little complacent in not trying to attack all of the
parts of the airplane."3

Automobiles morphing into
electronic battlefields
According to a report by McKinsey &
Company, the connected road vehicle,
loaded with electronics, is a fertile field of
opportunity for hackers. The report states
that the cars of today contain as many
as 150 electronic control units but are
expected to have about 300 million lines
of software code by 2030. Currently, passenger planes have approximately 15 million lines of code, and a PC packs about

40 million. Looming cyberthreats named
by the report include personal data theft,
vulnerable sensors, controls of the vehicle,
monitoring of voices through voice-recognition electronics, and manipulation
of vehicle data.
The report points out that state-of-the
art tools for hacking are inexpensive and
that guarding against attacks is a more
costly endeavor. Auto hacks from friendly
sources have proven to be successful, and
the multiplicity of OEMs and parts providers add to the difficulty of standardizing defenses against threats. Industry
trends are rapidly advancing toward standard regulations on cybersecurity and
software updates, as evidenced by looming mandates from the United Nations
Economic Commission for Europe.4

NSA launches new
Cybersecurity Directorate
FORT MEADE, MD. The National Security
Agency is redefining its cybersecurity mission by enhancing its partnership with unclassified collaboration and information,
and by establishing the Cybersecurity
Directorate, enhancing its partnerships
with unclassified collaboration and information sharing. This organization
unifies NSA's foreign intelligence and cyberdefense missions, in an effort to prevent
and eradicate threats to national security
and critical infrastructure. Its initial focus
will be on the defense industrial bas and
improvement of weapons security.
The Cybersecurity Directorate will
reinvigorate NSA's white hat mission by
sharing critical threat information and
collaborating with partners and customers to better equip them to defend against
malicious cyber activity. 5
REFERENCES

1. Evaluation Engineering, "Cybersecurity:
Shielding against the dark side," May 2019
2. Forbes, "U.S. Government Confirms New
Aircraft Cybersecurity Move Amid Terrorism
Fears," October 2019
3. Wall Street Journal, "U.S. Steps Up Scrutiny
of Airplane Cybersecurity," Sept. 29, 2019
4. McKinsey & Company, "The race for
cybersecurity: Protecting the connected car in
the era of new regulation," October 2019
5. National Security Agency/Central Security
Service, "Strengthening the Front Line: NSA
Launches New Cybersecurity Directorate,"
Oct 1, 2019

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