Written by
Jesse Varsalone
Collegiate Associate Professor; Coach and Captain of the UMGC Cyber Competition Team
The University of Maryland Global Campus (UMGC) Cyber team participated in the Hack the Airport Training exercise at TAC (Technology Advancement Center) in Columbia, Maryland in December 2024. The two-day hands-on training workshop provided excellent insight to how Cybersecurity impacts daily operations in a modern airport, and explained how various components of an airport’s cyber infrastructure operate and what should be done to properly secure the infrastructure. The training emphasized how the large number of industrial control systems connected to the airport ecosystem can make the airport vulnerable to attackers who are able to access the network. Real world examples are provided on how breaches to an airport could have serious consequences.
The trainer demonstrated many of the cyber capabilities of an airport through various hands-on modules that guided the students through the scanning and information gathering phases of the reconnaissance phase, and well as the tools and techniques that could be utilized to exploit these devices within an airport’s network infrastructure.
Our TAC trainer had a vast amount of experience in several areas within cybersecurity including network security, programming, exploitation, reverse engineering, and was familiar with various wireless protocols used in industrial control systems.
In the course, there are physical devices with Programmable Logic Controllers (PLC’s) that students can connect to and examine. The trainer will explain how modifying the configuration of these devices can impact the operations of an airport’s infrastructure. Students are able to connect to PLC’s and other devices on the airport’s network through wired and wireless connections. The instructor guides students on how to identify devices within an airport’s infrastructure and discusses the best practices for hardening and securing these devices from an attack.
In the final phase of the training, students get a chance to scan for a PLC controller within the airport infrastructure. After locating the device on the network using the tools covered in the training, students connect to the device, gather additional information about the configuration and settings of the target device. Finally, python code is written and leveraged to exploit the device. After successful exploitation during the table-top exercise, implications and best practices are reviewed.
Summary
The Hack the Airport training class at TAC (Technology Advancement Center) provides extensive and excellent insight into the cybersecurity operations involved at a large-scale airport. It is obvious that an immense amount of time was devoted to building and configuring all the various industrial control systems connected to TAC’s “Adega Airport”.
The hands-on components of the course are invaluable to the students and the way the individual modules are presented are appropriate for those who lack experience as well as those with vast expertise.As the coach of the UMGC Cyber team who, along with my students, participated in the immersive training, I highly recommend this course to anyone who is interested in learning more about the various industrial control systems and an airport’s cybersecurity operations. This experience cannot be replicated outside of TAC.
Learn More about TAC’s Cyber Range Training Environments Here