For Episode 28 (January 23, 2026), Sam built a "flight ops cyber radar," a dashboard that ranks security risks across an airline's operations, flags critical alerts and generates an AI command briefing. He made it with our guest's company, aviation cybersecurity firm Cyviation, in mind. He didn't share the tools or build time, so this page covers the dashboard and what the expert said about it.
Sam admitted at 01:13 he wasn't too familiar with the product or the space. He went with what he guessed an airline security team would want: one screen showing what's at risk and what to do about it.
I thought it you know, the intent is just a little dashboard to analyze potential security threats.
— Sam Nadler, Episode 28
Not covered on the show. The dashboard has a risk feed grouped by area, a drill-down for critical alerts with a "tactical directive," and an AI-synthesized captain or command briefing.
Cyviation CTO Sagi Waitzman liked the intent, the UI and especially the red alert, which reminded him of a TV series. Sam joked it needed an audio warning from the ceiling. Then Sagi drew the line at 04:37: the dashboard shows what most people think airline cybersecurity is, the systems on the ground. Cyviation checks the airplane itself.
A modern aircraft has many computers, effectively its own server room. Cyviation maps those systems, checks versions and connections, and works out chain effects, where someone could get in through one system and reach another. Because you can't pen test a plane without grounding it for about a year until recertification, they use AI to build a digital twin of the aircraft from more than 100 documents that used to be read by hand. New regulations arriving in 2026 require airlines to do these risk assessments.
Point the dashboard at the aircraft. The ground-IT view is a familiar dashboard pattern; the harder and newer problem is a risk assessment of onboard systems mapped from a digital twin. A version built for Cyviation would show aircraft components, their connections and the paths an attacker could take, not vendor portals.
The rest of the episode covers how Sagi's team hires people to manage AI agents. More on AI in aviation. Jordan co-hosted, and for another aviation episode, see Episode 48.
Sam's version lists risks by area (ground VHF interference, a fuel logistics portal, a vendor credential leak, RFID relay latency, core airline operations) with risk levels, a tactical directive for critical alerts and an AI-written command briefing.
No. Cyviation CTO Sagi Waitzman said most people think of ground systems, which is what Sam's dashboard showed, but the aircraft has many onboard computers of its own, and that's what Cyviation assesses.
Not practically. Sagi said physically testing an aircraft would keep it on the ground for about a year until it could be recertified, so Cyviation builds an AI digital twin of the plane's systems and assesses risk on that instead.
