Jamaica hosting workshop on cybersecurity in aviation

KINGSTON, Jamaica, Mar 20, CMC – Jamaica is hosting a four-day regional workshop on cybersecurity in aviation.
The workshop, which ends on Friday, has brought together civil aviation personnel from 14 Latin America and Caribbean countries and is being hosted by the Jamaica Civil Aviation Authority (JCAA) in association with the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the Organization of American States Inter-American Committee against Terrorism (OAS CICTE), and MBJ Airports Ltd.
JCAA manager for Aviation Security and Facilitation, retired Captain Althea Bartley, said that the workshop was developed out of a need to increase awareness of cybersecurity threats within the aviation industry. She said this was based on numerous incidents that have occurred over the last couple of years.
Bartley said aviation is a “critical infrastructure for any government or country, and, as such, we (in Jamaica) realised the need to bring to the fore some guidance material for states and stakeholders as to how does one help to mitigate against these new and emerging cybersecurity threats”.
She said cybersecurity crosses all areas in aviation, including airports, airlines, civil aviation authorities and air navigation, “so it is very broad, and the aim is to develop a workshop that pulls everybody together in order to apply measures to mitigate this particular risk”.
Bartley said the participants are largely regulatory personnel from civil aviation authorities within their jurisdiction, military aviation and airport personnel.