With the advancement in technology, new innovations have been a boon benefiting and revolutionising the various sectors. However, as no gain comes without some pain, with more and more digitisation, cyber crimes have also spiked up and cybersecurity has become a constant concern.

Looking at a large number of players involved in the manufacture of an aircraft especially with the digital revolution booming around, cyber protection of data and businesses to reduce the risk of disruption of the production chain is a major issue. To address cybersecurity in the supply chains as a major issue, the Paris Air Show will have an expert panel discussing the urgent attention needed on this subject. This Experts Roundtable will focus on this key priority and will illustrate with concrete examples of good practices and effective safety measures put in place by the industry. The goal is to enable the supply chain and cybersecurity managers (customers and industrial suppliers) to share their experience of protecting the extended enterprise and to highlight existing tools in an environment of increased digitisation.

The roundtable panel will include Patrick Fanget from BoostAeroSpace, Airbus; Arnaud Massias from Liebherr Aerospace Toulouse SAS; Stéphanie Buscayret from Latécoère; Yves Verhoeven from French National Cybersecurity Agency - ANSSI and Stéphane Lenco from Thales.

However, it must be noted that cybersecurity in the supply chains cannot be solely viewed as an IT issue as the risks include that of sourcing, vendor management, supply chain continuity and quality, transportation security and many other functions across the enterprise. It, therefore, becomes crucial to address it in a coordinated manner. Thus, cyber security is required in all phases of a particular supply chain as an organisation cannot entirely be sure from where risk will evolve.

Some examples of cyber security threats in the supply chain are: Network or computer hardware delivered with already installed malware; malware inserted into software or hardware and software applications’ vulnerabilities and networks within the supply chain, which the hackers discover.