Experts behind a world-leading airport operating system with an enviable record of cyber-security built small models with incorporated digital systems to show what happens during an attack.

WAISL’s airport predictive operation centre (APOC), called AeroWise, is embedded with cyber-security from partner GRAMAX. Its experts have counter-intuitively built small, physical replicas of the airports that their technology protects – even embedded with the associated IP and Coda systems.

The models depict the departure halls, arrivals locations, immigration desks, security areas, car parks, runways, gates and railway connections. When an attack is simulated trains start going the wrong way, lights turn off or on and there are major systems failures. It helps give an understanding about what is at stake should an actual airport fall victim to a cyber-attack, and it assists Programme Logical Controllers ‘war-game’ this eventuality.

WAISL and GRAMAX are rolling out their products across Europe following successes in India, where they are headquartered.

Hackers and bad actors constantly attack airport and transport systems, as the European Cyber Security Agency (ENISA) and the UK’s National Cyber Security Centre (NCSC) have warned. The attacks are becoming faster and more adaptive according to the experts at WAISL and GRAMAX.

The companies’ technologies combine to create cyber-security that has thwarted serious attacks, including those from malign state actors at times of geo-political instability. The cyber-security technology is installed at three Indian airports - Hyderabad, New Delhi and Goa – with others in India and Europe coming online soon.

AeroWise is the first APOC of its kind in the world and uses AI and digital-twin technology to create an ‘auto-pilot for airports’.

Andy Bordass, an airport veteran who is heading the roll-out of WAISL’s AeroWise system across Europe, said:

“Aviation operations today rest on an expansive and tightly coupled digital ecosystem where failure is no longer isolated or easily contained.

“Airports and airlines rely on interconnected systems spanning passenger processing, flight operations, third-party platforms, and legacy infrastructure that cannot be paused, patched, or replaced without consequence.

“Across Europe, recent technology and cyber-related disruptions have demonstrated that when these systems falter, the effects are immediate, highly visible, and operationally destabilising, rapidly cascading across terminals, airspace, and public confidence."

“It is a 24/7 battle and WAISL and GRAMAX’s partnership aligns two Indian tech pioneers whose systems dovetail to provide as secure a defence as is possible. It is not only airports’ own vulnerabilities that have to be considered but those of companies in the supply chain and those of passengers."

“The number of cyber events that airports have to deal with is astonishing and attacks are only going to get more sophisticated due to hackers utilising AI. It is why we need AeroWise – which uses AI and digital-twin tech – along with GRAMAX’s cyber-security to keep ahead of the criminals. And the models of airports the staff have built show how they are willing to see things differently to better understand what hackers and cyber-threats would look like on the ground."

“It might seem a backward step or counter-intuitive to build models but it shows the lengths to which they will go to defend airports. They are replicas in miniature that include the IP and Scoda systems."

“I know that our cyber experts are predicting more advanced ransomware, deep-fake targeted phishing attacks and data exfiltration.The modelling – both digital and physical – enables them to keep on top of threats."

“AeroWise is a total airport management system that integrates landside, terminal and airside systems and provides real-time data to the control centre. It increases capacity, drives efficiencies and saves operators money – and with GRAMAX’s cyber-security gives protections against insidious cyber-threats. We are talking with airports across Europe about AeroWise and operators are increasingly attracted to it.”

Top photo: Delhi airport in model form

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