Identifying Security Gaps with Penetration Testing for a North American Airline Company

Needs And Requirements:

A North American airline company aimed to strengthen its cybersecurity posture in response to rising digital threats and growing concerns across the aviation industry.

Seeking better visibility into its environment, the organization wanted to identify their areas of highest exposure and risk. With both internal infrastructure and public-facing platforms critical to its operations, the company initiated a focused security assessment to uncover hidden vulnerabilities and reinforce its digital defenses.

Main Challenges:

Diverse and Expanding IT Assets: The organization managed a wide range of systems, from backend infrastructure to customer-facing services, making it difficult to maintain consistent security oversight across all components.

Limited Visibility into Vulnerabilities: Without a clear understanding of its exposure, the company struggled to identify its most critical weaknesses and prioritize where to focus security efforts.

Industry-Specific Threat Exposure: As part of the highly targeted and heavily regulated aviation sector, the company faced growing pressure to anticipate and defend against both opportunistic and targeted attacks.

Solution:

Penetration Testing: To gain deeper insight into its security landscape, the organization partnered with Hitachi Cyber to conduct a tailored penetration testing engagement.

Performed under grey-box conditions, the assessment blended attacker techniques with insider knowledge to evaluate both internal systems and external assets, including key web applications.

This approach revealed the company’s most significant vulnerabilities and provided clarity for strategic remediation planning.

Outcomes:

The engagement delivered a clear, actionable picture of the company’s security posture. Previously undetected weaknesses were uncovered across critical systems, allowing the organization to address risks based on real-world threat potential. Beyond immediate remediation, the insights helped shape a long-term cybersecurity strategy—enhancing resilience and readiness in a rapidly evolving threat landscape.

Next Steps:

With a clearer understanding of its most critical vulnerabilities, the organization is now positioned to take targeted action to strengthen its overall security posture. Remediation efforts will be prioritized based on real-world risk, and the findings will inform broader cybersecurity planning moving forward.