Embry-Riddle Offers Cybersecurity Certification to Protect Aviation Industry from Hackers

As announced at the 2017 Paris Air Show this week, Embry-Riddle will offer a new, customizable Aviation Cybersecurity Certificate program tailored to industry employees that addresses systems specific to the aviation industry – from aircraft systems to the infrastructure that supports them. Those systems include aircraft navigation and communications systems and existing as well as in development aviation infrastructure systems such as Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS), Automatic Dependent Surveillance-Broadcast (ADS-B), Instrument Landing System (ILS), Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) System Wide Information Management (SWIM) and Next Gen, and Single European Sky ATM Research (EU SESAR).

“Embry-Riddle is in the unique and trusted position as the higher education leader in aviation and cybersecurity to arm industry manufacturers and operators with the most proactive, advanced and up-to-date strategies in dealing with potential attacks on their infrastructure,” said Embry-Riddle President Dr. P. Barry Butler.

The program, which is available via flexible delivery platforms including in-person, on campus or online, will cover basic cybersecurity concepts, existing standards and best practices, computer system security concepts such as Global SWIM and its components such as Aeronautical Information Exchange Model (AIXM) and Flight Information Exchange Model (FIXM), and technology challenges like ADS-B.

“Embry-Riddle faculty are at the forefront of the field by being involved in building the next-generation technologies for the aviation and aerospace industry,” said Dr. Remzi Seker, Embry-Riddle Professor of Computer Science and Director of the Cybersecurity and Assured Systems Engineering (CyBASE) Center.

Seker, who spearheaded this program, says the importance of aviation cybersecurity has been acknowledged by leading organizations in the aviation industry such as the FAA, EASA, AIAA and SESAR, to name a few.

“Embry-Riddle lives up to its mission and takes steps to aid the industry address this at the level of the hands-on employees and leaders,” he added. “This continuing education opportunity we are providing is vital to the security and development of in-the-know industry professionals to stay on top of today’s cybersecurity challenges in the aviation and aerospace domain.”

For more information about the Aviation Cybersecurity Certificate program, contact the university’s Office of Corporate Engagement at corporate.engagement@erau.edu.