Commercial airlines run some of the world’s most complex technology environments. Every day, they balance decades-old aircraft systems with modern cloud platforms, connected devices, global payment networks, and strict regulatory requirements, all while ensuring flights depart safely and on time.
For security teams, that means protecting an enormous attack surface without disrupting operations. Success depends on gaining complete visibility across legacy and modern infrastructure while managing risk at every stage of the journey.
The Internet of Things takes flight
Walk through any airport terminal, and you’ll witness an ecosystem of connected devices working in concert. From baggage scanners to fuel telemetry systems, from ground coordination tablets to cockpit instrumentation, airlines manage tons of IoT endpoints.
These devices are constantly moving across borders, languages, and regulatory environments. Every router on every plane, every employee device, and every connection point represents a potential vulnerability that security teams must monitor and protect.
For security professionals building and managing these systems, the data perspective alone can be overwhelming. Even with comprehensive logging and visibility, determining where to focus attention requires sophisticated analytics and clear prioritization. From a threat actor’s perspective, this complexity represents opportunity. The attack surface is vast, and the potential entry points are numerous.
Legacy systems: Risk or reliability?
Most commercial aircraft remain in service for 20 to 40 years, meaning airlines must support technology built across multiple generations.
Cockpits now combine decades-old instrumentation with modern tablets and connected applications. Maintenance systems, flight operations, and business platforms all need to work together despite being built years or even decades apart.
This creates a constant balancing act:
- Legacy systems offer proven reliability but often lack modern security capabilities.
- New technologies improve efficiency but introduce operational and change-management risk.
- Hybrid environments increase integration complexity while expanding the attack surface.
For airlines, replacing legacy systems isn’t always the safest option. Security strategies must account for long technology lifecycles rather than assuming every system can be modernized overnight.
Turning logs into business intelligence
Despite these challenges, airlines have become remarkably sophisticated at extracting business value from operational data. Security logs, telemetry data, and operational metrics combine to tell stories that drive strategic decisions.
One airline operating in Latin America used log analysis to identify passenger patterns showing workers traveling from small communities to industrial centers for weekly work rotations. By analyzing passenger loads and connection patterns, they identified an opportunity to create a new direct route serving this specific need. The result was a win for customers, who got more convenient service, and for the airline, which improved operational efficiency.
This represents a powerful opportunity for security teams to become business accelerators rather than the “department of no.” When security teams can surface insights that impact revenue, route planning, or operational efficiency, they transform their role within the organization.
Key opportunities for security-to-business collaboration:
- Passenger load analysis for route optimization
- System performance monitoring for operational efficiency
- Anomaly detection that identifies business process improvements
- Compliance reporting that streamlines regulatory interactions
The build vs. buy dilemma
Airlines have historically been more likely than most industries to consider building custom solutions rather than buying commercial software. Commercial solutions tend to come with update cycles that may not align with airline tolerances, cloud versus on-premises considerations that affect control, and dependencies on vendor roadmaps.
By building in-house, airlines gain complete control over their systems, update schedules, and security posture. However, this approach comes with significant caveats.
Building has become easier, but maintaining custom solutions remains challenging. Modern development tools and frameworks make it relatively simple to create functional software. The long-term maintenance burden, however, hasn’t decreased. Airlines that choose to build must commit to ongoing development resources, security updates, and feature enhancements.
Many airlines maintain large development teams specifically for internal tooling. This allows them to compete on dimensions beyond the fundamental physics of flight. When you can’t build a plane that’s 80% more fuel efficient, you compete through superior technology, better customer experience, and operational excellence.
That said, there are limits to what should be built in-house. Complex systems like SIEM platforms represent significant undertakings that require specialized expertise to build and maintain effectively.
Security as a competitive advantage
In an industry with razor-thin margins and intense competition, security can become a differentiator. Customers increasingly make decisions based on an airline’s reputation for protecting data, maintaining reliable operations, and avoiding disruptions.
A security incident or data breach can drive customers to competitors. Unlike some industries where customer loyalty is strong, airline passengers will readily switch carriers based on reputation, comfort, technology offerings, or recent news, making it a business imperative to build and maintain trust through excellent security practices.
Security teams in airlines should focus on:
- Comprehensive visibility across all systems and endpoints
- Rapid detection and response to anomalies
- Collaboration with business operations teams
- Proactive threat hunting and vulnerability management
- Clear communication about the security posture to stakeholders
The path forward
Security is no longer just about preventing attacks.
The airlines that succeed will be those that can securely modernize operations while maintaining the reliability customers expect. That requires complete visibility across legacy and cloud environments, rapid threat detection, strong third-party risk management, and close collaboration between security and business teams. Listen to the full discussion on the Sumo Logic podcast.
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