The aviation and aerospace sector has become one of the most actively targeted industries by ransomware operators and data extortion groups in 2025 and 2026.

From passenger-processing platforms to satellite-dependent navigation systems, attackers are finding that disrupting even a single vendor in the tightly connected aviation ecosystem can produce cascading effects across airlines, airports, and ground operations worldwide.

The risk profile of the aviation sector makes it a particularly attractive target for cybercriminals. Airlines, airports, aerospace manufacturers, ground handlers, reservation platforms, and maintenance providers all operate as an interconnected ecosystem.

An attack on any one node within this system can cause disruption far beyond the entity that was initially compromised, often resulting in delays, manual operations, and cascading impacts on passengers.

The September 2025 cyberattack on Collins Aerospace’s MUSE passenger-processing platform demonstrated this risk clearly, with confirmed disruptions at major European hubs including Heathrow, Brussels, Berlin, and Dublin.

It was later disclosed that the incident involved ransomware, requiring manual recovery operations at multiple airports.

The threat landscape has not slowed in 2026. In April 2026, travel-sector sources reported a separate wave of cyber-related IT disruptions affecting European airports between April 4 and April 6, with impacts to check-in, boarding, baggage handling, and flight schedules.

While technical attribution in the public record remains limited for this event, the reported disruptions highlight that aviation IT environments continue to be under active pressure.

Earlier in January 2026, Tulsa Airports Improvement Trust confirmed that an unauthorized third party accessed and acquired files from its systems between January 17 and January 20.

Ransomware tracking and media reporting later linked this incident to the Qilin ransomware group, which allegedly posted stolen documents on its leak site.

PolySwarm analysts identified multiple malware families and threat actor groups that are actively targeting the aviation and aerospace sector.

These include ransomware families such as Qilin, LockBit, and Cl0p, as well as threat actor groups including Scattered Spider, Refined Kitten, Wicked Panda, and Fancy Bear, each presenting distinct risk profiles and attack motivations.

The analysts noted that shared IT platforms, identity-based intrusion, and supply chain dependencies are among the most concerning attack vectors across this sector in 2026.

Beyond ransomware, the sector also faces growing exposure from satellite-dependent systems and GNSS spoofing. Aerospace and aviation rely on satellite-enabled navigation, communications, weather data, and tracking systems.

Interference with ground stations, satellite communications links, or signal reliability can create upstream disruption, particularly for military aviation, remote routes, and regions affected by geopolitical conflict.

Scattered Spider and Identity-Based Intrusion

One of the most concerning attack vectors currently affecting the aviation sector is identity-based intrusion, largely associated with the threat actor known as Scattered Spider.

The FBI warned in 2025 that Scattered Spider had expanded its targeting to include the airline sector.

The group operates through help desk social engineering, MFA manipulation, SIM swapping, and impersonation of employees or contractors, which is particularly effective in aviation environments because airlines and airports rely on distributed workforces, third-party IT providers, and shared identity workflows.

What makes Scattered Spider especially dangerous in this context is the scale of potential damage from a single identity compromise.

If an attacker gains access to a shared service provider or identity layer, the compromise can cascade across multiple organizations simultaneously.

For aviation environments, this means that a single successful social engineering attempt targeting a help desk contractor could potentially grant access to systems spanning multiple airlines or airport operators.

Organizations in aviation and aerospace should take several protective steps to reduce their exposure. Shared airport IT platforms must be treated as high-priority single points of failure, and contingency planning for manual operations should be regularly tested and updated.

Identity verification processes, particularly those involving help desks and contractors, need to go beyond standard MFA to resist social engineering and SIM-swapping tactics.

Aviation supply chain partners and third-party vendors should be assessed regularly for security maturity, especially smaller regional providers that may lack dedicated internal security teams.

GNSS interference and satellite dependency risks should be incorporated into operational resilience planning, particularly for routes and operations in geopolitically sensitive regions.

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