Could Terrorists Hack an Airplane? The Government Can!

[larshall 4]

Not terribly specific reports, but still food for thought.

https://www.thedailybeast.com/could-terrorists-hack-an-airplane-the-government-just-did

https://www.csoonline.com/article/3236721/security/homeland-security-team-remotely-hacked-a-boeing-757.html

 

[Hansaspeed 18]

Have you seen a 757? I find it hard to believe it is even possible to hack one.

[HighBypass 2,339]

Well, the 757 does have an FMC, not to mention other computers on board. She's not fly by wire, but it may be possible to feed false data to systems or navigation. Understandably, the public haven't been told what was hacked into. Mind you this can only happen when the systems are powered. Unless the hacker can physically flick the switch for the batteries or have ground power connected, then any cold & dark planes are unaffected. 

[Indy511 686]

12 hours ago, larshall said:

Could Terrorists Hack an Airplane?

Harold Finch did. Starts at 2:02.

 

[mwilk 1,106]

I saw it done on Hawaii 50. It must be true.

[MartinRex007 390]

According to a news report a few years ago, Goggle "Avionics hacked" for full story.

 

"A cybersecurity consultant told the FBI he hacked into computer systems aboard airliners up to 20 times and managed to control an aircraft engine during a flight, according to federal court documents."

[Ian S 214]

Well, there's some interesting conspiracy theories about these US Navy ships and their navigation systems all of a sudden, so...who knows?

[Hansaspeed 18]

4 hours ago, MartinRex007 said:

According to a news report a few years ago, Goggle "Avionics hacked" for full story.

 

"A cybersecurity consultant told the FBI he hacked into computer systems aboard airliners up to 20 times and managed to control an aircraft engine during a flight, according to federal court documents."

Is there any primary source for all of this?

[MartinRex007 390]

There is lot about this topic online, here is a good summary from Wired:

https://www.wired.com/2015/05/possible-passengers-hack-commercial-aircraft/

 

[Chock 17,769]

[HiFlyer 9,358]

I think most technical civilian infrastructure (that needs to be) is protected from casual mischief, simple idiocy, and even moderately sophisticated hacking in places like the banking sector and for certain corporate data, but history (and headlines) shows significant vulnerability against skilled and determined hackers, especially of the state sponsored variety.......

Heck, our own government wants backdoors in phones and other things, which means others can get in as well, using the exact same means.

http://money.cnn.com/2017/04/14/technology/windows-exploits-shadow-brokers/index.html

[Luke 782]

7 minutes ago, HiFlyer said:

I think most technical civilian infrastructure (that needs to be) is protected

I admire your optimism. Security is at best an afterthought in a lot of internet-facing infrastructure; for things designed years before it's not even on the radar.

Cheers!

[HiFlyer 9,358]

1 minute ago, Luke said:

I admire your optimism. Security is at best an afterthought in a lot of internet-facing infrastructure; for things designed years before it's not even on the radar.

Cheers!

I was trying not to appear as cynical as I actually am about this. 

[BillCusick 75]

I think that all 'licenced' drone operators should be given this ability, to divert airliners - to avoid their drone being damaged....

That would certainly reduce complaints from these moaning pilots..

Regards

Bill

[n4gix 4,947]

8 hours ago, BillCusick said:

I think that all 'licenced' drone operators should be given this ability, to divert airliners - to avoid their drone being damaged....

That would certainly reduce complaints from these moaning pilots..

Regards

Bill

AVSIM needs a "snark" tag or icon...