AIA NAS9924

INTRODUCTION

Supply chain companies are important to the aerospace and defense industrial base. Suppliers may have unique capabilities that are vital to aerospace and defense programs.

Aerospace and defense companies have been dealing with the threat of cyber intrusion for the past several years. As companies have increased the security of their IT network defenses, the attackers are now being driven to softer targets where they may find some of the same type of data that they previously had sought from these companies. The adversary is also using the collaborative relationships between the aerospace and defense companies and their suppliers as a "back door" as the defenses get better. Companies further down the supply chain may not have had the opportunity or expertise necessary to fully prepare to defend their systems from these attackers, but the result of the increased defenses in the major suppliers is that the attacker may target their suppliers based on their vulnerabilities. This document was designed to be a supplier baseline so that suppliers know what kind of security they need to have if they want to do business with aerospace and defense companies.