A Security Assessment and Recommendations to Remedy Security Loopholes for Aircraft Solutions

A Security Assessment and Recommendations to Remedy Security Loopholes for Aircraft Solutions

Kwami A. Attipoe

SEC 571

Keller School of Management

November, 2013

Introduction

This report assesses the security concerns of Aircraft Solutions. Aircraft Solutions is a well-known and highly respected component fabrication and equipment manufacturing company. They specialize in providing implementation and design solutions to companies in in a few different industries. The industries they serve include aerospace, defense, commercial and industrial industries. The company manages a plethora of highly qualified professionals and has an immense production plant. Their overall goal is to provide high-quality solutions to fulfill the needs of customers with an extensive range of demands. The purpose of this assessment is to identify multiple vulnerabilities within Aircraft solution's operations. After the weaknesses have been identified, I will evaluate the associated threats and proceed to analyze the degree of risk present. I will then break down the ramifications to Aircraft solutions, if these security concerns are not addressed.

Assessment

There are three areas of potential security concern relating to Aircraft Solutions, they are software, policy, and hardware. For this paper I have chosen to focus more on hardware and policy. In the area of hardware, it is perplexing that there isn't a firewall between the internet and the commercial division. It makes no sense that the communication of the Defense Department must be routed through headquarters; however the Commercial department has a straight connection to the Internet. This is a significant vulnerability. Secondly, I realized that the security policy stating router and firewall rule-sets gets evaluated every two years. This is a long time between rule-set evaluations and is a substantial liability to overall success of the company. I have broken down the different vulnerabilities in the sections below.

Hardware/Software Vulnerabilities

One huge threat to Aircraft Solution's hardware and software is the lack of adequate protection implemented between its commercial division and the rest of the world that it connects to through the Internet. It seems that the commercial division must transmit through the Internet in order to connect to Headquarters. This allows for a significant