Is Your Security a 737 Max 9?

As you may know, a door blew off a flight mid-air minutes after takeoff at 16,000 feet forcing an emergency landing. Thankfully and miraculously no loss of life occurred, but it could have been really, really bad. I think someone did lose a cell phone.

Systemic Failures In History

This is an example of a systemic failure all around, that is not exclusive to the aviation field, despite it being one of the most regulated environments existing.

Let’s try to recall some similar systemic failures:

• Enron

• 2007- 2008 Financial Crisis

• 2014 Target Breach

• 2017 Equifax Breach

Boeing Failures vs Cybersecurity Failures

Back to Boeing, there is a lot of blame to go around, but let’s look at some of the information we have:

Success Factors From Failures We Can Learn

Failures happen. It’s a fact of life. My son looks at me when he’s spilled milk, and I tell him it’s ok, you didn’t do it on purpose right, it’s just an accident.

It is only a loss if we can’t learn from our failures.

Some factors to consider from the Boeing Incident:

• The plane was banned from long distance ocean travel (what a disaster that would have been!)

• All 737 Max 9 jets were grounded by the FAA (we don’t have an FAA in cybersecurity)

• Complacency may take a rest, for now (only because it affects their bottom line)

Cybersecurity Takeaways

The same thing happens after a security incident. Many companies are reactive in nature and although many decide to reflect and improve themselves, sometimes it takes a couple incidents for them to get their act together.

Here is a quick list of concepts you can takeaway and implement at your org today for better security: