Explainers & Guides

The Weakest Link: Navigating TPRM and Supply Chain Cyber Security in the UK Aviation Sector

Discover how vulnerabilities in third-party suppliers put passenger safety and operations of the UK aviation industry at risk, and why strengthening supply chain risk management is now a critical board-level priority for aviation leaders.

The Weakest Link: Navigating TPRM and Supply Chain Cyber Security in the UK Aviation SectorThe Weakest Link: Navigating TPRM and Supply Chain Cyber Security in the UK Aviation Sector

Thales reported a 600% year-on-year increase in ransomware attacks against aviation in 2023–2024. The aviation industry is facing a wave of cyber attacks at a scale never seen before. Supply chain breaches in particular are hitting unprecedented levels of frequency and sophistication.

Attack groups like Scattered Spider have shifted their attention to aviation, recognising that suppliers and third-party providers offer entry points into critical operations. These groups are pursuing high-profile disruption campaigns, often targeting shared providers that serve multiple airlines or airports.

The stakes are clear, given the capabilities of modern cyber criminals, every single digital supplier in the aviation ecosystem (ranging from software vendors and baggage handlers to IT service providers and maintenance contractors) could represent a potential weak link. As we will demonstrate in this article, a breach at any of these suppliers can ripple across operations, undermining passenger safety, interrupting services, and even create potential systemic economic shocks.

For senior leaders, it is far more than a technical issue; supply chain cyber risk has become a board-level issue. The question is how the UK aviation sector can strengthen third-party risk management (TPRM) and secure its weakest link.

The Anatomy of Supply Chain Dependencies in Aviation

The UK aviation ecosystem has embraced digital transformation at speed, increasing both efficiency and interconnection. Airlines now rely on cloud-based passenger service systems, airports depend on integrated ground-handling technologies, and companies coordinate critical maintenance work via shared digital platforms.

This interconnectedness has made aviation supply chains essential—but also leaves them more exposed to cyber attacks. Adversaries increasingly exploit suppliers as a shortcut to compromise airlines or airports. By breaching one trusted provider, risks can cascade across an entire sector.

The aviation supply chain is a web of dependencies:

  • Airlines rely on shared passenger service systems, loyalty platforms, and IT service providers.

  • Airports depend on ground handlers, logistics companies, and digital baggage management systems.

  • Maintenance and engineering partners manage highly sensitive data and access to operational systems.

Some suppliers act as single points of failure. For example, a prominent passenger service systems provider supports over 90% of global airlines. A compromise of such an essential provider poses not only a business risk but a systemic threat to the entire industry.

Lessons Learned from Recent Cyber Supply Chain Incidents

Recent years provide a stark record of how supply chain weaknesses can directly impact aviation security and operations.

  • British Airways Data Breach (2018): Attackers succeeded in injecting malicious code into third-party scripts on BA’s website and app, which exposed personal and payment data of 400,000 customers and led to a £20 million ICO fine.

  • SITA Passenger Service System Breach (2021): Attackers successfully compromised the supplier’s systems, which exposed the data of millions of passengers across carriers. These carriers included major international airlines, such as Singapore Airlines, Lufthansa, and British Airways. In particular, this attack highlights the systemic risk that shared suppliers pose to all companies.

  • Airbus Supply Chain Attack (2023): Hackers exploited a compromised Turkish Airlines employee account to access Airbus systems. Sensitive vendor data was exposed, affecting thousands of suppliers in Airbus’s chain.

  • CrowdStrike Outage, Gatwick Airport (2024): A vendor software failure grounded flights and caused widespread disruption. While not a cyberattack, the incident illustrated the operational fragility created by shared digital dependencies.

  • Qantas Third-Party Breach (2025): A cyber attack on a contact centre platform exposed data of six million customers. There were similar attacks at Hawaiian Airlines and WestJet. The FBI linked this campaign to Scattered Spider, demonstrating how threat actors now deliberately target airline suppliers.

  • UK Airport Ransomware (2023–2024): There were operational disruptions at both London City and Birmingham airports following ransomware incidents at supply chain partners, attacks which delayed services and forced emergency response procedures.

These incidents carry consistent themes: operational disruption, direct financial loss, reputational harm, and regulatory scrutiny could result from incidents at suppliers to the sector. They also reveal how attackers can bypass hardened corporate systems by striking the less-protected suppliers that aviation depends on.

UK Aviation TPRM and Supply Chain Risk Management Challenges

Why are third-party risks so persistent in UK aviation? Several structural challenges stand out:

Highly interconnected supply chains

Airlines and airports depend on vast networks that stretch far beyond direct partners and suppliers. Tier-1 suppliers often rely on their own complex webs of Tier-2 and Tier-3 manufacturers, service providers, and subcontractors. This creates chains of dependency where a disruption in one region can quickly ripple across global operations.

Expanding attack surfaces

The rapid digitalisation of ticketing, ground handling, maintenance, and logistics has increased efficiency but also widened the entry points for attackers. With more systems connected and data flowing between organisations, achieving full visibility across this digital mesh is extremely difficult.

Legacy systems

Many operators and suppliers still rely on outdated IT platforms that underpin critical services. These systems are hard to update or replace, leaving them exposed to modern attack techniques. The inability to patch quickly creates long-term vulnerabilities that persist across the sector.

Concentration of risk

A small number of shared suppliers dominate key aviation functions such as passenger service systems, aircraft maintenance software, and logistics platforms. Incidents at providers like SITA or Sabre demonstrate how the compromise of a single vendor can cause systemic disruption affecting dozens of airlines and airports simultaneously.

Limited resources for oversight

Large operators may have dedicated risk teams, but smaller airlines and airports often rely on manual processes and siloed data. Without investment in digital supply chain mapping and analysis, many struggle to achieve meaningful oversight of their extended supplier networks.

Together, these challenges leave aviation organisations with persistent blind spots at a time when regulators are raising the bar on supply chain resilience.

Deep Supply Chain Risk: Beyond Immediate Suppliers

Most TPRM programmes stop at Tier-1 suppliers, but aviation risks extend much deeper. Fourth-, fifth-, or nth-party providers often deliver critical services, cloud hosting, outsourced development, data processing, without the operator even knowing they are in the chain.

This lack of transparency, often described as supply chain opacity, magnifies exposure. For example, an airline may thoroughly assess its primary IT provider, but remain unaware that the provider outsources essential services to a subcontractor in a higher-risk jurisdiction. That subcontractor could become the attacker’s entry point.

The reliance on shared suppliers compounds this problem. If a subcontractor serves multiple airlines or airports, a single breach can spread simultaneously across operators, amplifying operational disruption, regulatory fallout, and reputational damage.

Regulatory Pressure: Mandating Visibility and Resilience

Regulators have recognised these risks and are tightening requirements. UK aviation operators now face rising demands for supply chain visibility, resilience, and demonstrable governance.

Key regulatory drivers include:

  • NCSC’s Cyber Assessment Framework (CAF): Provides baseline principles for critical infrastructure sectors. For aviation, the CAA adapts CAF profiles to create industry-specific benchmarks, requiring operators to manage third-party risks.

  • NIS2 Directive: Expands obligations for essential services, including airports and air traffic management, to secure supply chains.

  • Upcoming UK Cyber Security and Resilience Bill: Expected to formalise supply chain mapping, concentration risk analysis, and operational resilience reporting.

These frameworks emphasise continuous monitoring, concentration risk identification, and collective defence approaches. In practice, this means operators must be able to evidence how they identify, monitor, and mitigate systemic supply chain risks, well beyond direct third-party suppliers.

Securing Aviation Supply Chains: The Role of Risk Ledger

Aviation requires tools that can map dependencies, highlight shared risks, and support collective resilience. Risk Ledger’s collaborative platform delivers on this need.

  • Extended Visibility: Risk Ledger maps not only direct suppliers but also deeper tiers, closing the visibility gap into fourth- and nth-party relationships.

  • Concentration Risk Identification: The platform highlights where multiple operators depend on the same suppliers, exposing systemic risks before they escalate.

  • Community Collaboration: By bringing together aviation peers on a shared network, Risk Ledger enables intelligence sharing and collective defence, strengthening resilience across the sector.

  • Regulatory Support: The platform helps operators meet CAA, CAF, and NIS2 obligations by providing auditable, real-time evidence of supply chain risk management practices.

This ability to visualise shared dependencies and monitor systemic risks is central to protecting aviation’s digital supply chains.

Conclusion

The UK aviation sector faces an undeniable truth: supply chain vulnerabilities are its weakest link. From passenger service systems to maintenance contractors, each supplier represents a potential entry point for attackers, and breaches can ripple across the global industry.

Resilience demands an ecosystem approach. Board-level oversight, regulatory compliance, and collaborative defence must combine to close visibility gaps and address systemic risks.

Solutions like Risk Ledger enable the sector to move beyond reactive compliance. By embedding continuous monitoring, concentration risk analysis, and shared intelligence, aviation can strengthen supply chain security, protect critical operations, and build confidence in an era of escalating cyber threats.

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