What Really Matters
The most important factors in an airline’s safety standards go well beyond the airline’s safety record. An airline with strong safety standards should have a management team composed of experienced airline industry professionals. A safe airline needs to have a strong safety culture – the idea that safety comes before everything else, including profits and customer service. Safe airlines avoid risks. Aviation is one of the most risk-averse industries out there, and that’s a big reason why it’s also one of the safest. Finally, a safe airline needs to follow the rules. Aviation is a very by-the-book industry. There are rules for everything, and those rules often in place because of lessons learned in past accidents.

Evaluating an airline based on these factors requires dive deep into an airline’s operations to see how the airline performs on these issues, and most travelers don’t have the time or expertise to perform that deep dive. Fortunately, travelers aren’t the only ones who are interested in an airline’s safety. Governments, industry groups, and other international organizations regularly assess airlines’ safety standards; their findings can offer travelers a quick and easy understanding of whether their airline meets appropriate safety standards.

The Tools
There are six freely-available tools that travelers can quickly use to evaluate an airline’s operational and safety standards. Three of these tools are based on direct audits of the airline, while three are based on evaluations of the government that certifies and oversees the airline.

In order to fully understand these tools, a traveler should understand the importance of a civil aviation authority (CAA), the government body responsible for regulating all the airlines registered in its country. An example of a CAA is the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) in the US. An effective CAA will set appropriate operational and safety standards for airlines under its jurisdiction, will have the capacity to inspect airlines and ensure they follow those standards, and will have the authority to ensure that airlines that do not meet the standards are not allowed to operate.

Not all CAAs are created equal. Some do a very good job, but others have major shortcomings. Travelers looking at an airline regulated by effective CAAs can have high confidence that the airline has appropriate safety standards, because the CAA won’t allow them to operate if they don’t have those. An airline from a country with an inadequate CAA can still have good safety standards; the airline just has to self-regulate, because the CAA isn’t going to do it. In those countries, travelers cannot assume that an airline has appropriate safety standards, because the CAA may let airlines with inadequate safety standards operate. Travelers therefore need more evidence that the airline’s safety standards are up to par.

Travelers can use three publicly-available tools to evaluate a country’s CAA: The International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA), the List of Carriers Banned within the European Union, and the Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP).

If a traveler still isn’t satisfied after evaluating the CAA that oversees an airline, the traveler can also look at the airline’s international certifications that are based on direct audits of the airline. The three audit-based tools are the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA), the EU Third Country Operator (TCO) program, and an airline’s alliances and codeshares. Travelers should note, however, that these programs are voluntary, so a lack of such certifications is not necessarily a negative indicator for an airline’s operational and safety standards.

International Aviation Safety Assessment (IASA)
The IASA program run by the US Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) assesses whether the CAA in a country meets international standards; Category 1 is a pass, Category 2 is a fail. The IASA is updated continuously based on direct FAA audits of CAAs, and carries regulatory implications. Airlines from Category 1 countries can start new service to the US and new codeshares with US carriers, while airlines from Category 2 countries cannot, although they can continue existing services or to the US or codeshares with US carriers. The biggest problem with IASA is that is only lists countries with flights to the US or codeshares with US carriers, so there are numerous countries not listed in IASA. That doesn’t mean those countries have good or bad CAAs, it just means travelers need to look elsewhere for that information.

List of Carriers Banned within the European Union
The EU ban list is a frequently misunderstood tool. A lot of media sources refer to this as the “EU Airline Blacklist” and suggest that every airline on the list is there because the EU found major safety flaws with the carrier, but this perception is inaccurate. Instead of auditing airlines, the EU audits CAAs, and then bans all airlines from a country whose CAA fails the audit. There are a few airlines that are banned outside of those country-wide bans, but those are rare. An airline that gets caught up in a countrywide ban isn’t necessarily unsafe – it just means they don’t have an effective CAA overseeing and certifying their operations. Airlines from countries with blanket bans can request exemptions from the list, in which case the EU will perform a direct audit of the airline and will exempt it if the airline passes; an exemption is therefore a very positive indicator for an airline’s safety standards.

Universal Safety Oversight Audit Program (USOAP)
The USOAP program is run by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), the UN’s civil aviation arm. This program audits every CAA in the world and provides a breakdown of how each CAA scored in different categories of the audit. If a country performs particularly poorly in a safety-critical area, that country gets a red flag that designates them as a Significant Safety Concern. Unfortunately, the audits aren’t very frequent, and some of the data on the USOAP website is up to 10 years old.

IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)
The IOSA program is run by the International Air Transport Association (IATA), the main global trade group for airlines. IOSA is a comprehensive audit program that airlines must pass in order to become IATA members. The program is based on direct audits of the airline, covers airlines around the world, and has been proven effective at ensuring strong operational and safety standards. Depending on the year, the accident rate for IOSA-certified carriers is usually about one-third that of non-IOSA carriers. Travelers should note that IATA gives such out two-letter IATA codes regardless of whether an airline is an IATA member; just because an airline has an IATA code does not necessarily mean that they’re an IATA member who has passed an IOSA audit.

EU Third Country Operator (TCO)
The TCO program is run by the EU’s European Aviation Safety Agency (EASA). For non-EU airlines to operate flights to EU destinations, they have to pass an EASA audit and receive this TCO authorization. Like IOSA, TCO authorization is based on a direct audit of an airline’s operations. The thoroughness of the audit depends on EASA’s confidence in the CAA of the airline’s home country. If EASA has confidence in the CAA, they may only do a quick review, but if they don’t have confidence they do a much more thorough audit.

Alliances and Codeshares
Membership in one of the big three airline alliances – oneworld, SkyTeam, or Star Alliance – is a very positive indicator for an airline’s safety standards, as the alliances put prospective members through safety audits. Codeshare agreements with major carriers are also a positive, as they show the major carrier trusts the other carrier’s safety standards enough to let their paying passengers fly on that carrier.

Conclusion

Air safety is the safest form of transportation available. In many operating environments, flying on an airline with inadequate safety standards is still the safest option for intercity transportation. However, travelers who put in the effort to seek out safer air travel options will reduce their chances of becoming victims of an aircraft accident, and the tools discussed above are a good way to start that effort.

If checking those six tools is still too much work, check out WorldAware’s Worldcue Airline Monitor, in which WorldAware’s analysts use 14 criteria to evaluate an airline’s safety and give it a Preferred or Not Preferred rating.

About WorldAware
WorldAware provides intelligence-driven, integrated risk management solutions that enable multinational organizations to operate globally with confidence. WorldAware’s end-to-end tailored solutions integrated world-class threat intelligence, innovative technology, and response services to help organizations mitigate risk and protect their employees, assets, and reputation.

Cabin Pressurization-related Incidents

Cabin pressurization incidents occur on a regular basis around the world, but the majority do not cause injuries. According to reports in The Aviation Herald database, nearly 50 incidents involving some issue with cabin pressure have occurred so far in 2018. Most of the depressurization incidents this year involved a failure to pressurize the cabin as the aircraft climbed or a gradual loss of cabin pressure while the aircraft was at altitude. Only three known incidents caused injuries, most notably, the April 17 incident on Southwest Airlines (WN) Flight 1380 that resulted in the death of a passenger.

Health Effects of Depressurization

Most cabin depressurization incidents do not cause long-term health impacts; however, rare instances can result in severe injury or death. The most serious health threat in cabin depressurization incidents is hypoxia, or a lack of sufficient oxygen. Hypoxia can cause numerous symptoms, including breathlessness, fatigue, and impaired decision-making and physical functioning. Sustained hypoxia can eventually cause loss of consciousness and death.

Cabin depressurization can cause injuries to passengers’ ears due to the sudden change in air pressure. Such injuries can be very painful, but generally, do not cause long-term health impacts. Nausea is another common symptom of cabin depressurization and usually subsides after the aircraft lands.

An explosive decompression that causes a large breach in the airliner’s fuselage can suck an individual out of a plane, either partially or completely. Such instances are very rare on commercial airliners. An individual sucked out of a plane faces a very high probability of dying, though some have survived.

Mitigation Measures to Protect Travelers

Passengers can take several steps to protect themselves in the event of cabin depressurization. The required steps are simple, but passengers must complete them quickly, especially if the aircraft suddenly loses cabin pressure.

Passengers must don oxygen masks quickly after an airliner loses cabin pressure, as the effects of hypoxia may impair their ability to do so after a short time. Studies have shown that hypoxia following a sudden loss of cabin pressure in an airliner at cruise altitude can begin impairing a person’s functioning and decision-making in as little as eight seconds. Within 30 seconds, passengers may become so impaired they are unable to perform simple tasks such as putting on an oxygen mask. Passengers should ensure that the oxygen mask is worn properly so that it covers both the nose and mouth.

One way passengers can ensure familiarity with oxygen masks in an emergency is to pay attention to the preflight safety briefing and review the safety information card provided by the airline.

Passengers should also heed the instruction to put on their own oxygen mask before helping others put on their masks. Passengers who have put on their own oxygen masks will be fully capable of helping others in nearby seats, but passengers who do not may become impaired before they are able to help others or themselves.

In the very rare instance of an explosive decompression, wearing seatbelts increases passengers’ chances of survival. Seatbelts do not provide absolute protection to passengers; media reports indicate that the passenger killed on Southwest Flight 1380 was wearing her seatbelt. However, seatbelts have protected passengers in some explosive decompression incidents. The most notable such incident involved Aloha Airlines (AQ) Flight 243 in 1988, in which all passengers who had their seat belts fastened survived an explosive decompression that blew off a large portion of the aircraft’s forward fuselage.

WorldAware’s Global Intelligence solutions are designed to help you protect your personnel and ensure you can operate globally with confidence. Our Worldcue® Airline Monitor and quarterly Airline Safety Newsletter provide business leaders with two powerful tools to make decisions about airline carrier safety and help reduce travel risk across the organization.

A more in-depth version of this piece was featured in our most-recent Airline Safety Newsletter.

About WorldAware
WorldAware provides intelligence-driven, integrated risk management solutions that enable multinational organizations to operate globally with confidence. WorldAware’s end-to-end tailored solutions integrate world-class threat intelligence, innovative technology, and response services to help organizations mitigate risk and protect their employees, assets, and reputation.

“You won’t believe the nightmare I had getting through security this morning,” or “that TSA agent must have woken up on the wrong side of the bed this morning.

Unless you really have nothing better to do, the TSA knows that you didn’t come to the airport to see them. They’re just a rather large and sometimes annoying speed bump between you and your departing aircraft. That’s why they’ve made a number of great resources available to help travelers get through their checkpoints as efficiently as possible.

Visit TSA.gov for advance planning

Although a few things may vary from airport to airport (or agent to agent), the vast majority of the rules at TSA checkpoints across the U.S. are pretty consistent. You can find those listed on the TSA website or in the MyTSA mobile app, which you can get in the iOS or Google Play stores.

Check out their recent blog on summer travel tips. They also have lots of videos published that can help you know what to expect.

Follow TSA on Social Media

The TSA has an active social media presence. You’ll find great information that will help you get through security more easily and provide answers to questions you might have.

Not sure if an item is allowed through the checkpoint in your carry-on bag? Send a #photo of the item to @AskTSA or https://t.co/FqdjhU6idI pic.twitter.com/WsrMhS71mh

— TSA (@TSA) August 13, 2017

You can also send them a specific question and get a direct answer via their @AskTSA Twitter account or via Facebook Messenger. They’ve got agents available to help from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET on weekdays, and 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. on weekends and holidays.

Get Pre-Check

By now, many U.S. travelers already have TSA Pre-Check.  If you don’t have it yet and you travel more than a few times a year it can be well worth the cost. Getting approved for Pre-Check allows you to get through airport security faster and easier, and it allows the TSA to focus their attention on both higher risk travelers and infrequent travelers, which can help speed up the entire security process.

For more information on how to get Pre-Check or another Trusted Traveler Program (which will include Pre-Check), visit our Ultimate Guide to Trusted Traveler Programs.

You might also want to take a look at this map that shows you when Pre-Check lanes are available by airport.

Be Positive!

Sometimes the best way to make your airport security experience easier is to maintain a good attitude throughout the process. Here’s a quote from Travel and Transport’s Senior Vice President of Account Management, Nancy Rissky, which was first published on our website more than three years ago. I think it’s still pretty relevant:

“Aside from the tangible things that made business travel easier, I’ve found that a positive attitude is a must. Sure, things are bound to go wrong, like flight delays or cancellations, but when you consider that these things are done for our safety, it’s easier to stay positive. When you acknowledge that things can go wrong, you’ll be much happier when things go perfectly right, which does occasionally happen. Do your best to smile – behavior breeds like behavior. Saying “good morning” and smiling at the TSA agent is sure to get you one in return.”

Getting through airports isn’t always easy. Keeping a few of these tips and resources in mind can go a long way the next time you’re making your way to your next flight.

This article was originally published by Travel & Transport. To view the original article, click here.

There has been a huge surge in consumer access to drones in the last year, and with this surge comes issues like drone safety. Combine this with an unknowing public and there are sure to be some complications. Typical drone pilots “don’t generally file flight plans ahead of their flights and they aren’t necessarily privy to the flight plans of other aircraft in the area. ” This can lead to major complications in metropolitan areas when airports are located very close to commercial and residential neighborhoods. This poses a legitimate risk to travelers. Drones pose a similar hazard to aviation as birds. Travel and Transport report on what is being done to decrease risks associated with drones and airports. Many cities are “restricting drone flight within the path of airports.” Travelers can find some relief in knowing drone activity is being addressed and their safety is being put first.

Read the full article here.

The “no smoking” rule applies to e-cigarettes.

The U.S. Department of Transportation has explicitly banned the use of electronic cigarettes, or vape pens, on commercial plane flights. The rule applies to all scheduled flights in, to, and from the U.S.

“This final rule is important because it protects airline passengers from unwanted exposure to aerosol fumes that occur when electronic cigarettes are used onboard airplanes,” Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx, said in a statement. “The Department took a practical approach to eliminate any confusion between tobacco cigarettes and e-cigarettes by applying the same restrictions to both.”

The restriction will be formally published in the Federal Register, clarifying current regulations that ban smoking of tobacco products. The regulation doesn’t clearly state what falls under the “smoking” ban, though the DOT considered it broad enough previously to include no use of e-cigarettes on planes. Hover, there was still some lingering confusing over vaping.

There’s some evidence that e-cigarette aerosol can contain harmful chemicals, and the DOT wants to ensure that all passengers are able to avoid any potential harm within the confined space of an airplane. The ban includes electronic cigarettes in all forms, including “electronic cigars, pipes, and devices designed to look like everyday products like pens,” the DOT said.

Passengers are also not allowed to carry battery-powered portable electronic smoking devices in checked package or charge the devices onboard an aircraft, according to the DOT’s Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.

Click here to view the original article.

• The World’s Best Airline has some of the industry’s most modern wide-body aircraft.
• The World’s Best Airline has nearly 90 new aircraft on order, an invoice that will total more than $200 billion when it’s all said and done.
• The World’s Best Airline spent almost $5 billion over the past four years to refurbish the cabins of its entire fleet.
• The World’s Best Airline is from Asia.

At a time when the spotlight is shining with a torrid intensity on Asian airlines in the wake of several tragedies in the past year, it should also shine just as brightly on Asian carriers offering the best service and safety.

And there are many of them.

Last summer, in its annual survey of the world’s best airlines, Skytrax named Hong Kong-based Cathay Pacific Airways as its World’s Best Airline — for the fourth time. The carrier also earned the honor in 2003, 2005 and 2009.

Maxwell Leitschuh, a transportation analyst for iJET International, said it is irresponsible to draw conclusions about whether to travel to Asia or use Asia-based airlines based on incidents from the past year. iJET is a privately held consultancy based in Annapolis, Md., that offers risk management solutions and response services for global organizations.

Leitschuh noted that air travel is still the safest mode of transportation, with the odds of being involved in an incident at 1 in nearly 4 million.

Some Asian carriers are among the best.

“Some Asian airlines are the best in the world, airlines that I would go out of my way to fly on. Some I would tell people to avoid,” he said. “A lot of it depends on the regulators and whether they are good enough to keep the bad airlines out of the sky.”

Also named in the Skytrax Top 10 were Singapore Airlines at No. 3; ANA All Nippon Airways at No. 6; Garuda Indonesia at No. 7; and Asiana Airlines at No. 8. Not a single U.S. carrier was in the top 10, and the Skytrax awards carry some weight.

They were based on data from more than 18 million passenger surveys from more than 100 countries that were conducted from August 2013 to May 2014, according to the company. It will release its 26th annual results this summer.

The crash in February of a TransAsia turboprop plane shortly after takeoff from Taiwan’s Sungshan Airport in Taipei has cast an unwanted spotlight on the safety and efficiency of airlines that are based in Asia.

At issue is whether these collective carriers are growing too quickly and whether they have the proper oversight from their respective civil aviation authorities.

In the past year, two TransAsia aircraft have crashed, a Malaysia Airlines jet disappeared over the Indian Ocean and still has yet to be found, another Malaysia flight was shot down over Ukraine and an AirAsia plane crashed in December in the Java Sea.

“I don’t think there’s a theme,” John Thorn, a senior transportation analyst for iJET International, said. “However, one thing I do see that is concerning in Asia, especially countries like Indonesia, is the rapid growth of carriers. You have to have the infrastructure and personnel to handle an influx of aircraft. They have to add support services and flight crews to fly them and maintain them. Are their regulators putting pilots in the second seat that are as experienced as they should be? Every country is different and that is a concern.”

According to the Associated Press, TransAsia has added about two dozen routes to mainland China and other Asia cities since it went public in 2011.

Asia is home to some well-established carriers.

But Asia-based airlines like Cathay-Pacific, Singapore, All-Nippon and more are well-established and have stringent oversight, much like U.S. airlines.

Cathay Pacific Chief Executive Officer Ivan Chu said in a statement that his carrier is “deeply committed to building (Hong Kong) into one of the world’s great aviation hubs. We do this through our huge investment in new aircraft, our world-beating seats, lounges and other products.”

Cathay Pacific has been doing this through the aforementioned investments in its fleet, as well as some less subtle changes, including the reopening of The Pier First Class Lounge in 2015 and Business Class Lounge in 2016 with a brand-new design. The next generation of seats and inflight entertainment products will be introduced with the arrival of the A350 aircraft in early 2016.

“The airline industry is becoming more competitive by the day and the only way to prosper is to continue to offer the best to your customers at every level,” Chu said. “The Skytrax World’s Best Airline award demonstrates that we have been doing the right things, but we will not rest on our laurels.”

The scrutiny that Asian airlines have come under, of course, has been brought about in part by some highly publicized disasters. The disappearance of Malaysia Airlines Flight 370 in March 2014 is still an ongoing story a year later — not a single trace of the plane has been found. Amateur video footage and a continuing civil war in Ukraine, where Malaysia Airlines Flight 17 was inexplicably shot down, certainly contributed to questions about the airline.

And February’s tragedy of the TransAir crash was particularly shocking — still photographs and dramatic video from an automobile’s dashboard camera show the aircraft turning vertical, its wing clipping a taxi cab on a bridge, then the bridge itself, before crashing into a shallow river.

But something obviously went wrong, Leitschuh added, saying that aircraft are designed to take off, gain altitude and be able to turn around and land on one engine if need be. The last communication from the pilot of the doomed TransAsia flight was a Mayday call saying that the left engine had a flameout. Combined, the two pilots had more than 12,000 hours of flight experience.

Infinitesimal Safety Difference

All of this called into question the safety records of Asian airlines. But according to Time magazine, the safety difference between Asian carriers and North American airlines is infinitesimal.

Noting that the International Air Transport Association keeps a running tally of “significant” accidents around the world — “significant” being accidents that cause injuries or at least $1 million in damage — carriers based in Southeast Asia and the Pacific averaged roughly 2.7 accidents for every 1 million flights between 2009 and 2013, according to IATA, while North American carriers averaged 1.32 accidents.

That might sound significant, Time reported, until you factor in that the accidents are figured for every MILLION flights. That means Asian Pacific carriers had a .0001% higher accident rate than did the North American carriers.

In data compiled by Airline Ratings.com, the major carriers in Asia all rated highly in their respective safety records. According to AirlingRatings, the safety rating for each airline is based on a comprehensive analysis using information from IATA, the world’s aviation governing body and leading association, along with governments and crash data.

Each airline has the potential to earn seven stars. The seven-star safety assessment criteria are as follows:

• Is the airline certified by the IATA Operational Safety Audit (IOSA)?
• Is the airline on the European Union (EU) Blacklist?
• Has the airline maintained a fatality-free record for the past 10 years?
• Is the airline is FAA endorsed?
• Does the airline meet all eight International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) safety parameters?
• Has the airline’s fleet been grounded by the country’s governing aviation safety authority due to safety concerns?
• Does the airline operate only Russian-built aircraft?

The Top Asia-based Carriers for Safety
Here are the top Asia-based airlines in terms of safety, according to the data compiled by AirlineRatings.com:

Seven Stars: Cathay-Pacific, All Nippon, Air China, China Airlines, China Eastern, China Southern, Hainan Airlines, Japan Airlines, Korean Air, Singapore Airlines and Sri Lankan Airlines.

Six Stars: Air India, Surinam Airways and Thai Airways.

Five Stars: Bangkok Air, Malaysia Airlines and Vietnam Airlines.

Top of the list is Qantas which has a fatality free record in the jet era (since 1951). Making up the top ten with seven stars for safety and in- flight product are in alphabetical order: Air New Zealand, All Nippon Airways, Cathay Pacific Airways, Emirates, Etihad Airways, Eva Air, Royal Jordanian, Singapore Airlines and Virgin Atlantic.

AirlineRatings.com’s rating system takes into account a number of different factors related to audits from aviation’s governing bodies and lead associations as well as government audits and the airline’s fatality record.

Of the 448 airlines surveyed 137 have the top seven-star safety ranking, but almost 50 have just three stars or less.

Over its 93-year history Qantas has amassed an extraordinary record of firsts in safety and operations. In 2008 in its successful defense, to the British Advertising Standards Association, of its claim that it is the world’s most experienced airline, Qantas was able to list almost 30 notable industry leading achievements.

These included the war time operation from Perth, Australia of what was then, and still is, the world’s longest air route by elapsed time from Perth to Colombo, Sir Lanka giving passengers an award dubbed “The Order of the Double Sunrise.”

This service, using Catalina Flying Boats, took about 28 hours non-stop and was performed in radio silence to avoid the Japanese. When the flights ended on July 18, 1945, the aircraft had made 271 crossings and had carried 858 passengers more than one million miles without a single accident.

According to AirlineRatings.com editor, Geoffrey Thomas, Qantas has been – and still is – a leader in the introduction of a host of technologies for the cockpit.

“There is no question that Qantas stands alone in its safety achievements and is an industry benchmark for best practice,” said Mr Thomas.

However while Qantas led the way, a number of airlines still only achieve one and two stars for safety on AirlineRatings.com. These include with one-star: Kam Air, Scat and Bluewing Airlines; and two-stars: Afghan Airways, Daallo Airlines, Eritrean Airlines, Lion Air, Merpati Airlines, Susi Air and Air Bagan.

Universal Weather and Aviation covers seven key factors private firms should consider when developing security options for private airports and aircraft. This includes vetting security personnel, parking considerations, and more.

Click here to view the article Originally published on Universal Weather & Aviation, Inc.

While the likely surface-to-air missile that brought down Malaysia Air Flight 17 traveled at more than three times the speed of sound, criminals moved at cyber speed to exploit the intense global interest in the tragedy.

Following the downing of Malaysian Airlines Flight 17 (MH17), cyber criminals were quick to take advantage of the hashtag #MH17, used to consolidate discussion of the ongoing disaster on Twitter. Criminals entered the stream of conversation armed with links embedded with malicious code or malware. Readers looking for more information on news topics like MH17 are likely to click on links on Twitter and Facebook for two compelling reasons:

Social media encourages sharing and fosters a sense of familiarity even with strangers, lowering our guard and making us far more likely to open a link as we get caught up in the torrent of updates.

Twitter and Facebook are both incredibly popular on mobile devices that encourage a quick-click mentality without the hover feature that allows you to see the full URL before doing so.

Within hours of the downing of MH17, cyber criminals had set up several Indonesian-language Twitter feeds incorporating the newly created #MH17. The tweets and retweets from these accounts included URLs that ended with .tk, a domain extension notorious for social media scams and outright malware. When readers clicked on the link to get more information about the fast breaking event, their computers or smartphones connected with one of two IP (internet protocol) addresses that contained ZeuS/ZBOT and PE_SALITY malware. These viruses can steal .SCE and .EXE files from infected devices, a serious security violation.

Since MH17 was brought down over eastern Ukraine, #MH17 has been tweeted or retweeted 3.3 million times and counting, and it’s nearly impossible for the average user to know what links are suspect, especially when they are shortened using the Bitly URL shortening tool. A good rule of thumb is to ignore any link that ends in the .tk extension (.tk denotes the country code top-level domain of the tiny island nation of Tokelau in the Pacific Ocean). Not all .tk extensions are bad, of course, but enough are to warrant extra caution.

MH17 is only the latest tragedy to be exploited by cyber criminals. The hashtag #MH370, for the still-missing Malaysia Airlines flight, was also a tempting target for criminals, who used the same embedded link tactic. For an example of the scale we are talking about, #MH370 was tweeted and retweeted over 4 million times in the first weeks of the search, and is still being used heavily up to now. The rush for information leaves journalists and regular users alike at high risk not only for misinformation but for actual computer infection—another reason to pause before clicking on links not associated with well-respected news outlets, which is a shame since much of the power of Twitter and Facebook is their ability to bypass traditional channels of information.

Any breaking news now generates its own hashtag, making it possible for users to follow the issue across the world. It also generates a target-rich environment for scammers and criminals who don’t need to devise clever ways to get us to click; they just use the hashtag. And it’s not just tragic aviation event hashtags drawing extraordinary numbers and interest; #Gaza has been tweeted and retweeted over 6 million times in the last two weeks, and #WorldCup was mentioned over 10 million times this month.

The use of malware in tweets containing popular hashtags will increase but it’s not the only way criminals in the cyber world exploit real-world tragedies. As soon as the MH17 passenger manifest was released, scammers set up several Facebook pages “dedicated” to specific victims, including several young children from Australia. Visitors to the sites were blasted with banner ads and click-bait ads. The over-the-top ads mean the scammers are simply trying to boost click rates and increase their ad revenue. However, far worse are the tragedy-related sites or links that either inject malware directly, or direct the visitor to another site teeming with viruses. Anti-virus software is always a necessity but it can’t keep up with the daily evolutions in malware.

As social media evolves from a medium where people repeat existing information to a place where people seek to disseminate information (confirmed or unconfirmed), the risk of infected links will evolve as well, matching the trend lines step by step. It remains to be seen if social media malware safeguards will evolve in equal measure, ensuring that the power of social media is not weakened by its open and sharing nature.

Click here to view the article Originally published on Universal Weather & Aviation, Inc.