Masters Theses

Date of Award

5-2000

Degree Type

Thesis

Degree Name

Master of Science

Major

Aviation Systems

Major Professor

C. T. N. Paludan

Committee Members

Frank S. Collins

Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to determine if modern aircraft are currently at risk of falling Victim to information warfare attacks or if they will be in the near future (less than 10 years). Defensive measures that are currently being used to protect this critical infrastructure will be discussed and evaluated for their effectiveness in preventing the degradation caused by these attacks.

Every effort has been made to use reliable sources of information to present an accurate status of modern aircraft and the aviation infrastructure with respect to information warfare. With information warfare being such a recent topic, much of the most up-to-date information has not been published in traditional medium yet and therefore, the author had to augment his research by utilizing "other sources", such as newspaper articles, magazines and the Internet.

It was concluded that, to date, neither the airline industry nor the FAA has experienced large-scale attacks by cyber warriors, even though the industry is becoming more susceptible to such attacks This absence of attacks SHOULD NOT BE used to lull oneself into a false sense of security with the conclusion that the industry is properly protected from information warfare attacks. The reality is that these information warfare attacks can and are being successfully executed at an extreme cost and/or danger to the ill prepared and lucrative targets.

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