30 SECURITY TECHNOLOGY EXECUTIVE • July/August 2015 www.SecurityInfoWatch.com
TRANSPORTATION SECURITY
B y J o n a t h a n S a n d er
T
he recent 2015 US Govern-
ment Accountability O ffice
( G AO) re p or t on the Fe d-
eral Aviation Administration
(FAA) is titled "FAA Needs to
Address Weaknesses in Air
Traffic Control Systems (Accessible Ver-
sion)." They say they are giving the FAA
168 specific recommendations in the pri-
vate version of the report that will map
out all of the deficiencies the review
r e v e a l e d . G o v e r n m e n t a g e n c i e s a r e
reviewed all the time, and many get bad
marks when it comes to cybersecurity.
Why is this report different?
The very first footnote on the very first
page gives us a reason to see this one dif-
ferently: it cites the phrase "a piece of
critical infrastructure" and refers us to the
US Patriot Act of 2001. The FAA deserves
special attention because of the clear and
present danger posed by weaknesses in
the security of systems controlling the air-
planes in our skies. "The weaknesses that
we identified are likely to continue, plac-
ing the safe and uninterrupted operation
GAO's Report on
FAA Security
Serves as a Refection
of Ourselves
The FAA deserves special
attention because of the clear
and present danger posed by
weaknesses in the security
of systems controlling the
airplanes in our skies.
Photo Courtesy of BigStock.com
The report's
content shows
that the FAA isn't
much different
than many other
organizations
when it comes
to security