Hacking, on the other hand is a potential risk on any flight with IFE/Internet, depending on the network and its associated security posture.

 

Hopefully the systems are at least as robust as Boeing's bank account.  EMP, on the other hand, is very likely.. something that I was involved in at Hq SAC in the 1980's and yes, the E-4B is a good example.  I got to climb all over her one day in the hanger and was impressed.  Comparing EMP to lightening is very wrong.

 

 

Hopefully the systems are at least as robust as Boeing's bank account.  EMP, on the other hand, is very likely.. something that I was involved in at Hq SAC in the 1980's and yes, the E-4B is a good example.  I got to climb all over her one day in the hanger and was impressed.

 

Last EMP strike on...anyone? Incidentally in 1945. Otherwise? I can't recall one.

 

Last hacking attack on major corporations alone? Daily to weekly.

 

Risk = Vulnerability * Threat. One event in 70 years makes for a pretty low threat metric.

 

 

 

Comparing EMP to lightening is very wrong.

 

Lightning is by its very definition a form of EMP (Lightning EMP, or LEMP, is actually a thing). An aircraft (any commercial, barrel fuselage type made of metal anyway) is by its very form, a simple version of a Faraday cage.

 

Lightening is what happens when you throw passengers off of an airplane, so yes, comparing that to EMP would be very wrong.

 

 

Risk = Vulnerability * Threat. One event in 70 years makes for a pretty low threat metric.

 

We are in agreement that hacking is more likely than EMP (true, the last event was self-inflicted) and we are parsing words now... but risk assessment includes the cost of an outcome such that a very unlikely event that is catastrophic in terms of property and life is assigned a high need for mitigation.  Not to be confused with the concept of expected value that you implied.