Alliant Cyber Leads Tabletop Exercise, Strengthens Operational Resilience for Large Airport Authority

Airports remain one of the prime targets for cyber threats because of their reliance on interconnected systems. Cyber attacks on the aviation industry have increased 74% since 2020, making this a significant vulnerability for airports and travelers across the nation. A single cyber attack can impede an airport’s entire operations, delay or cancel flights and cause significant reputational damage.

As the leading specialty insurance broker, Alliant Cyber provides personalized strategies and solutions to navigate mission-critical organizations through today’s complex risk landscape, strengthening cyber incident preparedness.

Our risk management specialists recently helped a large airport authority enhance operational resilience by leading a complex cyber incident tabletop exercise, focused on airport operations and enterprise-wide resilience. Explore the key strategies that helped a leading airport authority advance its cyber preparedness and protect operational integrity.

The Client’s Aviation Industry Challenges and Requirements

A large public sector transportation authority, responsible for managing multiple high-traffic international airports, required a strengthened cyber incident response plan to stay prepared in the face of increasing cyber threats. The airport authority serves millions of passengers and hundreds of thousands of flights each year, and could face significant financial and reputational damage in the event of a cyber attack.

Given the scale, complexity and critical nature of airport operations, the client requested a tabletop exercise that went beyond traditional IT incident response. The engagement needed to:

• Reflect real-world airport operational dependencies.
• Address cyber threats with potential safety, operational and reputational impacts.
• Involve multiple stakeholder groups across technology, security, risk management and leadership.
• Provide actionable insights to strengthen preparedness and governance.

Alliant was selected to lead the tabletop exercise based on its long-standing relationship with the client in delivering comprehensive insurance solutions across cyber and other commercial insurance lines, and its ability to align cybersecurity expertise with operational risks and broader organizational resilience.

How Alliant Cyber Structured an Aviation-Specific Tabletop Exercise

The client engaged Alliant Cyber to support the design and execution of a large-scale, complex cyber incident tabletop exercise focused on airport operations and enterprise-wide resilience.The engagement included close collaboration across departments to maximize incident preparedness, including the client’s board of directors, IT, security and risk management teams.

Alliant Cyber began with a detailed scoping discussion involving the client’s risk management and security leadership. Based on these discussions, the team developed a multi-faceted, airport operations-focused cyber incident tabletop exercise tailored to the client’s environment.

Alliant Cyber took an integrated approach to incident preparedness that incorporated:

• Cyber threat scenarios specific to airport operations.
• Operational disruption and cascading impacts.
• Security coordination and decision-making.
• Enterprise risk management and governance considerations.

Using the insights from the tabletop exercise, Alliant Cyber provided executive-level insights and recommendations to the client’s board of directors to strengthen operational resilience.

Cyber Incident Tabletop Exercise Results and Benefits

By delivering a complex, operations-driven cyber incident tabletop exercise tailored to airport environments, Alliant Cyber identified practical opportunities to enhance the client’s cyber incident response plan, business continuity and disaster recovery programs. This led to strengthened operational resilience and improved cybersecurity posture in today’s complex transportation risk landscape.

Alliant Cyber: Your Trusted Advisor in Navigating Today’s Cyber Risk Landscape

The engagement reinforced Alliant Cyber’s reputation as a trusted advisor for complex, mission-critical organizations. By combining technical cyber expertise with an understanding of operational risk and governance, Alliant helped the client advance its cyber preparedness while strengthening its risk management program.

Contact a specialist from Alliant Cyber today for tailored recommendations to strengthen your cyber incident response plan.