Literature Review
Insider Threats
Several works of literature have been published suggesting insider threats as a significant factor in aviation security. Insider threats have been documented as a possible significant threat to aviation security globally (Weiland & Wei, 2018). Employees in any industry pose security threats due to easy accessibility to the inside operations of the workplace. Like other industries, the aviation business is not exceptional as employees may have the motivation to harm particular passengers or cause accidents which pose security threats.
Aviation insecurity by insiders has been a recognized issue since the establishment of the industry (Szyliowicz, 2018). However, few pieces of literature have been published on the meaning of “the insider” to establish effective intervention measures against the threat. Generally, an insider is an individual within a system who exploits or intends to exploit its operations without authorization.
The insider can be permanent employees, contractors, part-time employees, agency consultants, or temporary staff (Nowacki & Paszukow, 2018). Thus, the term insider refers to individuals with inside knowledge of an organization through employees who can access vital information that is vulnerable to security breaches.
Methods of Insider Threats
Employees threaten the aviation industry’s security in various forms. The methods include attacking information systems, providing sensitive information to external parties, illegal immigrant transportation, and smuggling illegal goods and weapons in restricted areas (Al-Harrasi et al., 2021; Pollard & Clark, 2019). Aviation employees pose security threats due to unescorted access to sensitive airport areas, presenting harmful vulnerabilities. According to Szyliowicz (2018), airports have a large employee population and going through checkpoints and regular screening wastes time and financial resources. Thus, an employee can organize strategies to disrupt operations and airplane attacks with minimal suspicion from the authorities and aviation management.
Motivations Behind Insider Threats
Aviation employees are vulnerable to providing sensitive information about an aircraft’s operation by outsiders due to coercion, blackmail, or espionage. According to Klenka (2019) that employees cause harm to passengers due to ideological or motivational reasons. Ideologies include beliefs in terrorism and association with movements that advocate inhuman activities like murder. Terrorist organizations have capitalized on infiltrating the aviation industry through employment opportunities in the industry (Kagalwalla & Churi, 2019). The groups send agents who are employed as staff with the motivation of accessing valuable information that may be used to harm passengers.
Motivational factors entail financial gain, workplace injustices, and psychological issues, which may enhance negative thoughts leading to causing harm (Klenka, 2019; Noonan, 2018). Therefore, airport management should be aware of the underlying factors that may facilitate insider threats for effective management and early detection of the risk factor.
Risks from Inadequate Employee Data
Finally, numerous cases have been reported of aviation employees using fake employment documents and badges in the workplace. Inadequate data about employees poses possibilities for threats since the management may not be aware of the individual’s identity and intention in the industry. Szyliowicz (2018) states that airport management sometimes fails to record employees’ history, which risks security since some of them may have criminal histories and involvement with criminal organizations. Therefore, the probability of the employee’s causing harm is high, posing significant security threats in the aviation sector.
Objectives of the Study
The number of terrorist cases and aircraft accidents has increased in recent years calling attention to possible causative factors. Despite the increased cases, limited research has been done to extensively explore possible causes on the organizational level. Airport employees may take advantage of their positions and free access to sensitive information to commit crimes directly or indirectly.
Thus, this paper aims to assess how insider threats contribute to aviation insecurity to ascertain whether the issue poses significant or slight risks. The main aim of the research is to determine organizational factors that pose possible risks to security to facilitate the formulation of effective mitigation measures. Therefore, the study will be conducted thoroughly to answer the following research questions;
Research Questions
- Does insider threat significantly contribute to aviation insecurity?
- To what extent do insider threats pose security risks in the industry?
- What are the standard methods insiders use to breach security in the aviation industry?
Methodology
The Research Design
Does insider threat considerably contribute to aviation insecurity? This will be the primary research question, and the research methodology will use a mixed-approaches approach that combines quantitative and qualitative techniques. This strategy is required since it will make it possible to collect quantitative and qualitative data (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). It will give a thorough comprehension of the topic being studied. The first step in the quantitative portion of the study will be a survey of aviation staff members working for different firms to see how they view insider attack and how it affects aviation security.
To gather information on employees’ awareness of insider danger, perceptions of the severity of the threat, and attitudes toward aviation security, a systematic questionnaire will be developed, tested, and distributed to the workforce. The obtained data will be examined using descriptive statistics like frequencies, proportions, and mean scores (Babbie, 2019). They will offer a numerical comprehension of insider danger and its effect on aviation security.
Interviews with key informants, including aviation security specialists, regulators, and managers, will be done during the qualitative portion of the study to get their opinions on insider threat and how it affects aviation security. The surveys will be semi-structured, enabling respondents to react in-depth and nuancedly to open-ended questions (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018).
A thematic analysis will be used to examine the interview data to find patterns, themes, and similarities in the responses (Braun & Clarke, 2021). Aviation workers, managers, legislators, and security specialists from diverse organizations worldwide will make up the study’s population.
To guarantee that the sample size accurately represents the population, the survey’s sample size will be chosen using a calculator for sample sizes. Purposive sampling will be employed for the interviews to ensure that essential informants with the necessary skills are chosen (Creswell & Plano Clark, 2018). Random stratified sampling will be employed to guarantee that the selection is broadly representative.
A thorough knowledge of insider attacks and their effects on aviation security will be possible thanks to the collection of qualitative and quantitative data made possible by the mixed-methods approach, which has been concluded. While the interviews can provide non-numerical information that will be thematically evaluated, the poll will provide statistical data.
Participants and Sampling Methods
Pilots, maintenance workers, traffic controllers, baggage handlers, and airport security officers are just a few of the aviation industry people who will participate in the study. To verify the study’s validity, these people will be chosen from various international locations. The respondents will be divided into three groups: those who have experienced insider threat incidents firsthand, those who have seen such incidents happen, and those who have neither seen nor experienced such incidents. These groups will offer a variety of perspectives and experiences on the insider threat challenge, enabling the study to accomplish its goals.
The study’s criteria will be used to recruit participants using a purposive sampling technique. In accordance with Guest et al. (2018), purposive sampling enables researchers to choose individuals who can offer crucial information that can aid in-depth data analysis. Participants with various aviation-related experiences eager to contribute knowledge will be chosen using the sampling approach. To ensure that varied views and opinions are reflected in the survey, the research intends to include individuals of various age groups, genders, and years of knowledge about the industry.
In addition, the snowball sampling technique will be used to find aviation workers who may have escaped detection through the deliberate sampling method but who have seen or been involved in incidents involving insider threats. Polit and Beck (2018) claim that snowball sampling enables researchers to locate people who might not be reachable using conventional sampling techniques. The convenience sampling approach will be utilized to increase the sample size and guarantee that the study includes a representative aviation industry group.
In conclusion, the study’s participants will be aviation sector workers who have held various positions within the sector. The participants will be chosen using a purposive selection technique and divided into three groups according to their involvement in or observation of incidents involving insider threats. In addition, the snowball and convenience sampling techniques will support the purposive sampling approach to guarantee that the study contains a representative group of workers in the aviation industry.
Data Collection Techniques
In order to get the necessary data for this study, secondary and primary sources of information will be used. Employees in the aviation industry will be given a survey questionnaire to complete to gather the core data. The questionnaire will gather data on insider threat events in the aviation sector, the amount of the risk, and possible mitigating strategies. A representative group of aviation workers from several departments, including the ground staff, airport security staff, and cabin crew members, will receive the questionnaire. The questionnaire will be set up to gather information on the insider threat to the aviation sector that is both quantitative and qualitative.
Reviewing the body of knowledge regarding insider threats in the aviation sector will be part of the secondary data collection. JSTOR, Google Scholar, and EBSCO host are just a few of the academic databases that will be utilized to find pertinent literature (Gusenbauer & Haddaway, 2020). The literature review will thoroughly grasp insider attacks in the aviation sector and potential countermeasures. The research will also give the study pertinent background data.
The mean, variance, and frequency distribution will all be used in the descriptive statistics analysis of the data obtained from the survey questionnaire. The information will be displayed via graphs, charts, and tables to improve visual representation. Thematic analysis will be employed to examine qualitative data in order to find new themes and patterns. A mixed-methods research strategy will be used for the study, using qualitative and quantitative information.
Data Analysis
This study will use content analysis to examine the data gathered. The data was organized and evaluated based on the study questions to create groups and topics. The semi-structured interviews, the observation data, and the text data gathered from the literature study will be used to create the categories and themes.
In order to address the study objectives, information analysis will be applied to find patterns and connections among the data collected (Guest et al., 2018). Open coding, which includes segmenting the information into more manageable pieces to find concepts and patterns that arise from the data, will be generated to code the data. The codes will be arranged into categories and subcategories based on the study questions.
In order to accommodate changes to the study questions or methods for collecting data, data analysis will be done concurrently with data gathering. The categories and subclasses will be created and improved after the data has been coded to ensure they are pertinent to the research objectives. After identifying the categories and subcategories, themes will be created.
Manual data analysis will be used, and tables, figures, and charts will be used to illustrate the data. The data will also be triangulated to guarantee the validity and reliability of the results. Triangulation includes using several data sources to compare the findings of various data collection techniques (Polit & Beck, 2018). The study’s use of qualitative research will guarantee that the information gathered is carefully examined to give a thorough picture of insider threats to aviation security. Data analysis will aid in detecting organizational elements that could endanger security and make it easier to create efficient mitigation strategies.
Ethical Considerations
Ethics must be considered when doing research to respect the rights and welfare of the participants. Informed permission, confidentiality, and data security are critical ethical factors (Guest et al., 2018). Informed consent is the procedure used to secure participants’ voluntarily consenting to engage in research and ensure that they are aware of the nature and goals of the study (Polit & Beck, 2018). In addition, researchers should receive ethical clearance from the pertinent ethical review boards before undertaking the research.
Another ethical factor that is critical when conducting research is confidentiality. Researchers must ensure that participant identities and personal data are kept private and that the information is only utilized for research (Polit & Beck, 2018). In order to safeguard the confidentiality and privacy of participants, researchers should also employ secure data storage methods and make sure that all data is adequately de-identified (Braun & Clarke, 2021). In order to guarantee that participant data is safe without the risk of loss or theft, data protection is essential in research.
Ethical review boards monitor the conduct of research to verify that the required ethical standards are met. Additionally, researchers must avoid abusing or harming their subjects in any way. Researchers should take the necessary precautions to reduce the risks associated with their work and ensure that respondents are not subjected to needless harm (Guest et al., 2018). Finally, researchers should ensure they distribute their study findings openly (Polit & Beck, 2018). The information should be presented so the respondents and the larger community can access and comprehend it.
Feasibility and Budget
This project is highly feasible as insider threats may possibly pose significant security risks in the aviation industry. Insecurities in the industry are a sensitive matter that threatens its commercial existence. With increased globalization, airlines have become basic human and cargo transportation modes. Several studies have been conducted on similar topics, successfully making the study feasible for investigation (Al-Harrasi et al., 2021; Klenka; Noonan, 2018).
This research will focus on assessing the significance and extent of insider threat as s risk to aviation security to enable policymakers and governments to establish appropriate measures to curb the threat. A person within an organization has extensive knowledge of their operations and sensitive information.
Given that, airport employees are not exceptional and may be the root cause of terrorism attacks, aircraft accidents, and bombings as an inside job. From the study, researchers can make recommendations for future studies and approaches to curbing insider threats in the industry. Thus, this study is feasible, as it will provide insight into the topic, which can be used in other research and consulted in formulating intervention measures.
Lastly, the study is feasible because it is time-saving and cost-effective. The investigation process will require minimal time and financial resources to complete since data collection will be done online using primary technological devices such as mobile phones, tablets, and computers.
Online data collection methods save time and money because participants will be able to take part in the research at their convenience instead of meeting them physically, wasting both parties’ time. Additionally, online questionnaire surveys save printing and delivery costs leading to a less costly budget. Therefore, this study’s budget will range from $100 to $500, making it attainable without financial constraints.
References
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Creswell, J. W., & Plano Clark, V. L. (2018). Designing and conducting mixed methods research. Sage publications. Web.
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Guest, G., MacQueen, K. M., & Namey, E. E. (2018). Applied thematic analysis. Sage Publications. Web.
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Kagalwalla, N., & Churi, P. P. (2019). Cybersecurity in aviation: An intrinsic review. 2019 5th International Conference on Computing, Communication, Control and Automation (ICCUBEA). Web.
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Noonan, C. F. (2018). Spy the lie: Detecting malicious insiders. Web.
Nowacki, G., & Paszukow, B. (2018). Security requirements for new threats at International Airports. TransNav, the International Journal on Marine Navigation and Safety of Sea Transportation, 12(1), 187–192. Web.
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Weiland, L. V., & Wei, G. (2018). Evaluating the impact of NextGen’s Air Traffic System on Aviation Security. MATEC Web of Conferences, 189. Web.