Aviation officials step up cybersecurity checks of older messaging system

US and European aviation authorities are focused on cybersecurity threats that could affect a basic data-transmission system widely used by airlines around the world. Such concerns about the decades-old system, called Acars and primarily used for air-traffic purposes and to provide information about the status of various aircraft components during flights, have surfaced in the past few months on both sides of the Atlantic. The issue has been raised in US govt contracting documents, as well as in comments by industry officials and high-level European safety regulators. The information sent by the Acars network from planes to the ground isn’t considered safety critical, nor does the system handle any data that could immediately imperil safe operation of flights. <br/>