Penetration Testing for UK Aviation
CREST-accredited penetration testing for UK airlines, airports, ground handlers and the aviation technology suppliers behind them. We test passenger booking and PNR systems, crew rostering portals, maintenance and engineering (MRO) platforms, and airport ground operations, with UK GDPR and PCI DSS evidence for the passenger and payment data that flows through them. Interline, GDS and supplier boundaries checked throughout.
- Unlimited retesting
- Unlimited pre-retesting
- No hidden fees
“I would highly recommend EJN Labs to any organisation seeking reliable, detailed, and well-managed penetration testing services, particularly for government or enterprise-level projects.”
“There wasn’t another company we could find that could deliver what we needed in the timeframe we needed. The client loved it, and we got instant ROI from the engagement.”
core systems we test across an airline or airport’s estate: passenger booking and PNR, crew rostering, maintenance and engineering platforms, and airport ground operations, each with its own permission and supplier boundary.
What Airline, Airport & Payment Data Rules Expect
UK GDPR. Passenger name records, loyalty profiles and crew personal data are personal data under UK GDPR, and a PNR can carry special category details such as a dietary or medical request. Article 32(1)(d) requires a process for regularly testing, assessing and evaluating the effectiveness of your security measures. It does not name penetration testing as the method, but a test is the most direct evidence that your controls work. UK GDPR Article 32.
PCI DSS. Ticket sales, ancillary purchases such as seat selection, baggage and lounge access, and in-flight payments put booking and payment platforms inside PCI DSS 4.0.1. Requirement 11.4.2 and 11.4.3 call for internal and external penetration testing at least once every 12 months and after significant change, and 11.4.1 expects a documented testing methodology. PCI Security Standards Council.
Buyer & airline due diligence. Confirming what Civil Aviation Authority guidance means for your organisation sits with your own CAA-facing compliance lead. In our experience, airlines, airports, ground handlers and alliance partners commonly ask their suppliers and technology vendors for independent penetration test evidence as part of onboarding and periodic security due diligence, and we scope testing to answer the specific questions a buyer’s security questionnaire raises.
Who we test for. Airlines, airports and airport concession operators, ground handlers, aviation technology and MRO software vendors, travel agencies and OTAs, and GDS-connected suppliers. For passenger-facing reservation systems specifically, see our booking platform penetration testing page.
SCOPE
What We Test for UK Aviation
Passenger Booking & PNR
Passenger booking engines, check-in and passenger name record (PNR) stores, including OTA and travel-agent booking channels. IDOR across PNR and loyalty records, fare and ancillary-pricing tampering, and name-change or ticket-transfer fraud.
Crew Portal & Rostering
Crew rostering, currency and qualification records, and leave or duty-swap requests. Crew-to-crew visibility, role separation between crew, crew scheduling and HR admin, and integrity of duty-time and rest-period records.
Maintenance & Engineering (MRO) Platforms
Maintenance-record and engineering sign-off systems, technical-log and airworthiness-directive tracking, and vendor or third-party MRO portals. Technician and vendor access separation and resistance to record tampering. We test the record-keeping platform, never a live aircraft system.
Interline, GDS & OTA Integrations
API and data-exchange integrations between airlines, global distribution systems (GDS), interline and codeshare partners, and OTAs. OWASP API Top 10 testing for object-level authorisation and the trust boundary between your platform and every connected party.
Airport & Ground Operations
Check-in kiosks, gate and boarding systems, and baggage-handling backends shared between an airline, airport operator and ground handlers. Segregation between airline, airport and ground-handler access, and tampering resistance on gate-change and boarding-status data.
Cloud Infrastructure
AWS, Azure and GCP configuration for booking, loyalty and operational data. Encryption at rest, IAM scoping, audit logging and tenant boundaries where an airline group or alliance shares infrastructure across carriers.
Passenger & Crew Mobile Apps
Passenger check-in and mobile-boarding-pass apps, and crew-facing rostering or flight-operations apps. OWASP Mobile Top 10, device storage of boarding and PNR data, and deep-link handling between the app, wallet passes and the web platform.
Phishing Defence
Targeted phishing simulation against crew-scheduling, finance, procurement and ground-operations staff, using aviation-aware lures such as fuel-supplier invoice fraud and rostering-system notifications.
OUR PROCESS
From Scope to Attestation in 4-6 Weeks
Scoping Call
30-minute technical scoping call covering passenger, crew, maintenance and ground-operations systems in scope, safe testing windows around live schedules, and rules of engagement. Fixed-price quote within 24 hours.
Active Testing
3-15 days of hands-on testing by CREST-certified UK-based pen testers, against non-production booking, rostering and maintenance environments wherever possible. Daily status updates.
Reporting
Executive summary plus full technical report with CVSS scores, reproduction steps, screenshots, and specific remediation. 60-minute walkthrough call.
Free Retest
After remediation, we retest at no extra charge. Letter of attestation provided for buyer due diligence, audit or insurance underwriting.
CREDENTIALS
Verified Accreditations Auditors Accept
Every credential below is independently verifiable. UK procurement teams, FCA supervisors, ISO 27001 / SOC 2 auditors, and cyber insurance underwriters all recognise these standards.
GET YOUR QUOTE
Get a CREST aviation pen test quote in 24 hours
A fixed-price quote back in one business day, from a named CREST assessor. No sales pipeline, no chasing.
- CREST and IASME accredited. Testing your auditors and clients already recognise.
- Fast-track testing within 24 hours where required. Free retest of every fix included.
- Live findings via your client portal, not a four-week PDF.
- Fixed price from £3,500 for a single-role, single-app scope, agreed up front. Most engagements run £5,000 and up. No day-rate surprises.
Dan WilcocksonFounder, CelloriUnder NDA Further named references available on a scoping call.
- We reply within one business day with a fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
- You approve the scope and we book a start date, usually within 24 hours.
- Live findings land in your client portal as we test, with a free retest of every fix.
Get your fixed pen test quote in 24 hours
Quote request received
We will reply within one business day with your fixed-price quote from a named CREST assessor.
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or book a 20-min scoping call first
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COMPLIANCE READY
Reports Aligned to Every Framework
Findings map to specific control references in each framework, so your audit team submits the report directly without translation work.
UK GDPR
Article 32(1)(d) evidence that you regularly test the effectiveness of your security measures, for passenger, loyalty and crew data.
PCI DSS 4.0.1
Requirement 11.4.1-11.4.3 internal and external testing for ticket, ancillary and in-flight payment environments.
ISO 27001
Annex A 8.8 technical vulnerability management, once you declare that control applicable.
Cyber Essentials Plus
Certified directly by us as an IASME certification body, alongside your test.
Cyber Insurance
Findings and remediation documented against the questions on your broker or insurer’s proposal form. Requirements vary by insurer and policy.
Airline & Airport Buyer Due Diligence
An independent report you can attach to airline, airport, alliance-partner and GDS onboarding security questionnaires.
PRICING
Indicative Engagement Pricing
Fixed-price quotes confirmed during scoping. Free retest, executive summary, walkthrough call, and letter of attestation included.
Depends on service + scope
External / web / API / mobile single-target engagement. CREST-certified delivery. Around 3 to 5 working days from kickoff to report.
Get a fixed quoteDepends on service + scope
Multi-target combined engagement (web + API + external + AD), or single complex target. Typically 7-10 days.
Get a fixed quoteDepends on service + scope
Full-stack engagement (multiple cloud accounts, hybrid AD, complex web + API + mobile). Typically 12-15+ days.
Get a fixed quoteWHY EJN LABS
What You Get From Aviation Penetration Testing
Six concrete differentiators competitors don’t all match.
CREST-Certified Testers, Verifiable
Every test by a CREST-certified pen tester (CRT, CCT APP, CCT INF where applicable). Verify our company status at crest-approved.org.
24-Hour Startup, Where Required
From signed scope to active testing in a single business day for incident response, audit deadlines, or regulator-driven timelines.
Live Findings, Not 4-Week PDFs
Critical issues reported during testing through your client portal. Your team remediates while testing continues.
Audit-Ready Reports
Executive summary plus full technical report with CVSS scores and explicit framework mappings (ISO 27001, SOC 2, PCI DSS, FCA SYSC).
Free Retests, Standard
Verify remediation of every finding before close-out. Letter of attestation for audit submission included. Most competitors charge £1,500-£3,000 per retest.
UK-Based CREST Testers
Every engagement performed by vetted, UK-based CREST-certified testers, matched to your needs, security clearance, and compliance scope.
FAQ
Frequently Asked
Does the CAA require us to have a penetration test?
Confirming what CAA guidance or any aviation-specific cyber assessment framework requires for your organisation is a question for your own CAA-facing compliance lead, and we do not advise on it directly. In our experience, airlines, airports and aviation suppliers are commonly asked for independent penetration test evidence by buyers, insurers, alliance partners and audit teams, and we scope testing to answer those specific questions.
Can you test our passenger booking system, including OTA and GDS integrations?
Yes. We test the booking engine and PNR store for IDOR across passenger and loyalty records, fare and ancillary-pricing tampering, and the trust boundary with connected OTAs, global distribution systems and interline or codeshare partners.
Can you test our crew rostering system without disrupting live rosters?
Yes. We test against a non-production rostering environment or a defined safe-test window agreed with your operations team, so live duty rosters, currency records and rest-period calculations are never put at risk during testing.
Do you test maintenance and engineering (MRO) systems, or live aircraft systems?
We test maintenance-record, engineering sign-off and MRO portal systems: technician and vendor access separation, and resistance to record tampering. We do not test live aircraft avionics, flight-control or other airborne systems; our scope stays on the ground-based platforms that store and manage maintenance data.
Do you test airport ground systems like check-in kiosks and baggage handling?
Yes. Check-in kiosks, gate and boarding systems, and baggage-handling backends shared between an airline, airport operator and ground handlers, with particular attention to segregation between those three parties’ access.
Can you test our mobile boarding pass app before a peak summer schedule change?
Yes. We test the passenger app’s mobile-boarding-pass flow, device storage of PNR and boarding data, and deep-link handling with your web platform and wallet passes, and we can prioritise scoping and testing windows around a peak schedule change if you tell us the date during the scoping call.
Which aviation organisations do you test for?
Airlines, airports and airport concession operators, ground handlers, aviation technology and MRO software vendors, travel agencies and OTAs, and GDS-connected suppliers.
What’s in the report?
Executive summary (board-ready), technical report with CVSS 3.1 scores, reproduction steps, screenshots, specific remediation guidance, and a 60-minute walkthrough call. Letter of attestation issued after free retest.
Do you sign NDAs?
Yes. We sign client-supplied NDAs as standard. Engagement data is protected under our ISO 27001 (BSI-audited) information security management system.
How quickly can you start?
From signed scope to active testing in 24 hours where required. Standard pipeline is 3-5 business days from initial scoping call to test start.
Are your testers UK-based and what certifications do they hold?
Every engagement is performed by vetted UK-based CREST-certified testers matched to your engagement based on security clearance, compliance scope, and sector specialism. Testers hold CREST certifications relevant to their discipline (CRT, CCT APP, CCT INF, CCSAM).
20+ CREST-accredited testing services in one place
Web, mobile, API, cloud, AI, infrastructure, red team. Pick the test that fits your environment.
Get my Aviation pen test scope
A CREST-certified UK-based pen tester will contact you within one business day with a fixed price aligned to your booking, crew, maintenance and ground-operations systems.
