TECH TALK
Each of these countries or regions would feel that they are being prudent in protecting their own interests, and in the short term, they would be — but the macro-economic eff ect could be devastating. Another issue is how avionics or other aerospace products that contain software might face increased scrutiny in certifi cation eff orts from each and every country. The potential business risks and costs to suppliers to prove that their products cannot easily be tampered with or used for surveillance activities could be substantial. While some might see this as a retrofi t business opportunity, this certainly complicates the already complicated aviation regulatory environment. The matter of how the National Institute of Standards and
Technology (NIST), in a very unusual move, is re-evaluating a set of its special publications because of concerns conveyed by the cryptography community that the NSA might have tainted the guidance. Aerospace and aviation have security standards which depend upon or reference NIST, and now that NIST strongly recommends that a key part of the guidance being re- evaluated “no longer be used” recently, this creates some havoc for all international (and domestic) endeavors. Cryptographers repeated concerns over the published guidance, specifi cally Special Publication 800-90A, which specifi es techniques for the generation of random bits by applications using cryptography, after revelations that the NSA circumvented much of the encryption that shields Internet communications. Since newer aviation communications schemes are moving to IP methodology for moving large data sets (not to mention how wireless data eventually is communicated over IP networks on the ground), this is also an issue for our industry. Stay tuned for further developments on this in the next year.
THE FULL EFFECT OF THE NSA SCANDAL MAY NOT BECOME KNOWN FOR MANY YEARS TO COME
It is clearly too soon to understand what measure the world will take to protect itself from the NSA, but we can expect international cooperation to suff er at some point. U.S.-based system and product vendors might experience some short-term backlash, and this could shift some business to non-U.S. suppliers (where possible, that is), or quite possibly provide impetus for other countries to fund startups to design competing aviation (and other) products. Also in the near term, airlines and operators might put off avionics and broadband service
upgrades until their countries’ regulatory authorities clarify increased security testing or assurances from vendors. The U.S., and especially the FAA, will need to fi nd ways to accommodate concerns from other countries in order to slowly move past this uproar and rebuild trust. Companies might experience continued fallout, lost business and increased costs for some time. Hopefully our government will fi nd a way to rebuild goodwill soon, and not aff ect the aviation business climate too much.
John Pawlicki is CEO and principal of OPM Research. He also works with Information Tool Designers (ITD), where he consults to the DOT’s Volpe Center, handling various technology and cyber security projects for the FAA and DHS. He managed and deployed various products
over the years, including the launch of CertiPath (with world’s fi rst commercial PKI bridge). John has also been part of industry eff orts at the ATA/A4A, AIA and other industry groups, and was involved in the eff ort to defi ne and allow the use of electronic FAA 8130-3 forms, as well as in defi ning digital identities with PKI. His recent publication, ‘Aerospace Marketplaces Report’ which analyzed third-party sites that support the trading of aircraft parts is available on OPMResearch. com as a PDF download, or a printed book version is available on
Amazon.com.
Not Just Another Pretty Battery!
Concorde sealed lead acid batteries are the choice for many mission critical operations where dependability matters most – Military, Medevac, Airline
Transport, Offshore Support, and Flight ® Series aircraft battery
Training. The RG
product line is designed to deliver unmatched reliability and is tested for rated capacity and superior performance throughout the manufacturing process. Each handcrafted battery meets rigid manufacturing specs so you can be sure it is ready for your critical mission.
RG-380E/44K Turbine Engine Starting, 24 Volt, 42 Ah
Operators worldwide trust Concorde – shouldn’t you?
CONCORDE BATTERY CORPORATION 626.813.1234 | ISO 9001 + AS9100
WWW.CONCORDEBATTERY.COM
01.02 2014
35
DOMmagazine.com
Page 1 |
Page 2 |
Page 3 |
Page 4 |
Page 5 |
Page 6 |
Page 7 |
Page 8 |
Page 9 |
Page 10 |
Page 11 |
Page 12 |
Page 13 |
Page 14 |
Page 15 |
Page 16 |
Page 17 |
Page 18 |
Page 19 |
Page 20 |
Page 21 |
Page 22 |
Page 23 |
Page 24 |
Page 25 |
Page 26 |
Page 27 |
Page 28 |
Page 29 |
Page 30 |
Page 31 |
Page 32 |
Page 33 |
Page 34 |
Page 35 |
Page 36 |
Page 37 |
Page 38 |
Page 39 |
Page 40 |
Page 41 |
Page 42 |
Page 43 |
Page 44 |
Page 45 |
Page 46 |
Page 47 |
Page 48 |
Page 49 |
Page 50 |
Page 51 |
Page 52 |
Page 53 |
Page 54 |
Page 55 |
Page 56 |
Page 57 |
Page 58 |
Page 59 |
Page 60 |
Page 61 |
Page 62 |
Page 63 |
Page 64