Over the past few months, a disturbing pattern has emerged:
- WestJet in Canada confirmed a cyberattack that disrupted internal systems and its mobile app.
- Hawaiian Airlines reported a breach affecting non-critical IT operations.
- Qantas disclosed that the personal data of over six million passengers was accessed in a call center platform breach.
All of this comes on the heels of the August 2024 ransomware attack on Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, which forced port officials to disconnect critical systems, stranding nearly 1,400 passengers.
Let’s be clear. This is not about delayed boarding passes or missing loyalty points. Today’s air travel depends on deeply interconnected digital systems. Reservation systems, crew scheduling, maintenance tracking, flight planning and air traffic communication are all vulnerable. A breach in any one of them can ripple outward and cause catastrophic disruption.
Traditional API security tools such as gateways, WAFs and access control systems assume that requests coming from a “mobile client” can be trusted. The problem is that attackers can easily clone or reverse engineer a legitimate mobile app, embed stolen credentials or certificates, and use bots or automated scripts to replay valid API calls at high volume.
Our latest aviation solution brief explains why this is such an urgent problem in aviation, and how runtime protection provides the missing layer of defense.
The Aviation API Threat Landscape
Airline APIs are attractive to bad actors because they provide direct access to high-value data — booking systems, inventory, loyalty accounts and operational systems. The brief outlines several real-world threats, including:
- Reverse engineering of mobile apps to extract credential tokens and endpoint information
- Use of fake or automated clients that appear to be the real application but actually perform script-based attacks
- Credential stuffing and replay attacks, exploiting leaked passwords to gain access to internal systems
- API abuse by rogue insiders or partners using legitimate credentials outside of authorized channels
Why Existing Defenses Fall Short
API gateways and firewalls can block known malicious IPs and enforce access rules, but they can’t detect whether the client making the request is a genuine, untampered mobile app. Static API keys embedded in the app can be extracted and reused with ease. Static certificate pinning helps only to a limited extent — once the app is compromised, attackers can still replay valid calls.
Approov: Zero Trust Mobile Security for Airlines
Approov Mobile Security brings an additional layer of security designed specifically for mobile app traffic:
- Runtime Attestation verifies that a request is coming from an unmodified, official version of the app running in a safe environment on a real device.
- Dynamic Secrets are delivered on-the-fly and tied to the attestation, eliminating the need for static API keys in the app package.
- Invalid or tampered clients automatically fail attestation and are blocked from accessing protected APIs.
In effect, only trusted mobile apps in proper runtime conditions can interact with the aviation API infrastructure.
Business Benefits of Approov for Airlines
By deploying Approov, you can:
- Block fake or automated clients
- Prevent reverse-engineering based attacks
- Protect both public and internal aviation APIs
- Avoid leakage of static API credentials
- Strengthen compliance with aviation security standards
Conclusion
As aviation becomes increasingly digital and mobile-driven, the security perimeter is shifting from the data centre to the mobile device. Airlines that rely on APIs and mobile apps to deliver operational and passenger services must treat mobile app traffic as the new frontline of cybersecurity.
Read the full solution brief for a practical roadmap for securing your mobile frontline.
