Oh sure, we're flying along, one happy fleet, then all of the sudden, outta nowhere some whack job keys in the right prefix code and BAM! the shields drop.
Posted on 04/17/2015 4:56:47 AM PDT by Timber Rattler
One of the world’s foremost experts on counter-threat intelligence within the cybersecurity industry, who blew the whistle on vulnerabilities in airplane technology systems in a series of recent Fox News reports, has become the target of an FBI investigation himself.
Chris Roberts of the Colorado-based One World Labs, a security intelligence firm that identifies risks before they're exploited, said two FBI agents and two uniformed police officers pulled him off a United Airlines Boeing 737-800 commercial flight Wednesday night just after it landed in Syracuse, and spent the next four hours questioning him about cyberhacking of planes.
The FBI interrogation came just hours after Fox News published a report on Roberts’ research, in which he said: “We can still take planes out of the sky thanks to the flaws in the in-flight entertainment systems. Quite simply put, we can theorize on how to turn the engines off at 35,000 feet and not have any of those damn flashing lights go off in the cockpit.”
(Excerpt) Read more at foxnews.com ...
Oh sure, we're flying along, one happy fleet, then all of the sudden, outta nowhere some whack job keys in the right prefix code and BAM! the shields drop.
“Kill the messenger” indeed.
That does appear to be what they are doing.
Especially if they were quietly warned beforehand and did nothing.
After all, how dare he embarrass FeralGov Co. LLC
Maybe they were just looking for some ‘pointers’ for future reference or a possible current investigation.............
The proof of this is that the Feds took it seriously enough to pull the guy off the flight and grill him for hours.
Much the same way that the proof of the center fuel tank explosion was the way the fleet was promptly grounded for inspections ad repairs.
See post #11.
I have a FRiend whose cousin was a CPA, he found evidence of embezzling and went to the CEO.
Make a guess who was doing the embezzling.
They never found his body...
The guy was on the plane with a variety of computer equipment trying to prove his point. He was trying to do something that might be dangerous. The hell with the rest of the passengers who might be affected by an ‘oops’ he might have had.
Don't the Feds know this?
Perhaps the Feds should hire them...
Exactly.
And they'd still probably be harassing him, but since noone would know what the hell he was talking about, he'd just sound like he was paranoid.
Personally, I'd sue the thugs for false imprisonment, and tell them if they want to know about what he'd published, they could bloody well just read it for themselves, and if they'd like some consulting services, the hourly rate is $500.
BINGO!!
As a recovering aircraft engineer...
I am not worried. Shutting the engines off at 35,000 feet just ain’t gonna happen. It sounds good for the papers though.
The biggest fear one should have is the pilot and co-pilot. We all remember the unfortunate incident a few weeks ago.
Of course it does. Why do you think the FBI was so quick to react and so p!$$3d off?
Roberts was working their side of the street AND giving away their best secrets.
Uhm, where did you get that information?
I read the article and saw no indication he was engaged in any activity “trying to prove his point”.
I think the key word in this guy’s whole schpiel is THEORIZE. Obiously, one can THEORIZE about most anything. Could this guy actually be a slightly more technically oriented version of Brian Williams? Flapping his jaws about things of which he really doesn’t know jack? Can someone disable my car engine by hacking into the bluetooth entertainment system? That’s the equivalent of what he sez about commercial airliners.
Is he a government employee? Do "the authorities" pay his salary? Does he have a contractual, paid arrangement with the authorities?
If the answers to the above are all "no", then no his job is not to "go to the authorities".
His business model seems to be to find vulnerabilities, and then offer to sell the details of the vulnerabilities to the relevant manufacturers so they can fix them. Part of that business model is to make sure that the manufacturers want to buy his data.
“Bingo. Fedgov doesn’t give a damn about safeguarding citizens; its all about covering up the incompetence of the Federal Government.”
Just out of curiosity. Would you go on a plane with a security expert who could very well take a plane down with a computer? And what if he had a bad evening prior, like his girlfriend left him and 20 minutes later said he was the father of her baby?
Heck if I am going on that plane. The feds did the correct thing. They protected the passengers. I’m good with that.
-PJ
check out Forbes. He tweeted about doing something on the flight.
“a security intelligence firm that identifies risks before they’re exploited”
I guess he just exploits them himself by going to the media
“provide comprehensive assessment and consulting services to protect corporations, government and non-profit organizations.”
How is what he did protecting the gov’t? I you don’t like the word ‘job’, fine...it’s his obligation.
There are undergraduate universities conducting research right now into this...digital data can be exploited...just depends on time and tools....
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