October 8, 2015
As combat aviation evolves, the plethora of sensors and subsystems fielded on individual platforms increases. Today’s fighter jets carry more ISR capabilities than specialist recce platforms of the past, while gesture- or voice-controlled cockpits are no longer the preserve of science fiction.
Every advance brings a measure of risk, not just by increasing the complexity of the overall system, but by extending the attack surface for an adversary looking to degrade capability or carry out digital espionage. Current cyber-security thinking is that a determined attacker will always defeat the most thorough defense—the main task is to make sure that they can’t steal any useful information or do any damage once they get inside.