Posted on 05/16/2015 5:05:33 PM PDT by Jim Robinson
A well-known U.S. hacker told F.B.I. agents he took momentary control of an airplane’s engines mid-flight by hacking into its inflight entertainment system, according to a document filed in U.S. federal court and obtained by APTN National News.
Roberts, who has been interviewed at least three times by the F.B.I. this year, is under investigation for allegedly hacking into the electronic entertainment systems of airplanes, according to an application for a search warrant to probe seized electronic equipment.
The document shows F.B.I. agents investigating Roberts believe he has the ability to do what he claims: take over flight control systems by hacking the inflight entertainment computer.
Roberts has not yet been charged with any crime. The allegations contained in the search warrant application have not been proven in court.
Roberts is the founder of One World Labs and he is widely viewed as an expert on counter threat cyber security.
F.B.I. agents obtained the search warrant on April 17 to probe a number of electronic items seized from Roberts after he arrived in Syracuse, NY, from Chicago on April 15. Roberts had posted a joke tweet earlier in the day while on a United Airlines flight between Denver and Chicago. The tweet referred to hacking into the airplane’s in-flight entertainment and passenger oxygen mask system.
During two interviews with F.B.I. agents in February and March of this year, Roberts said he hacked the inflight entertainment systems of Boeing and Airbus aircraft, during flights, about 15 to 20 times between 2011 and 2014. In one instance, Roberts told the federal agents he hacked into an airplane’s thrust management computer and momentarily took control of an engine, according to an affidavit attached to the application for a search warrant.
“He stated that he successfully commanded the system he had accessed to issue...
(Excerpt) Read more at aptn.ca ...
No. Not true. Remember, the FBI is staffed by gummint workers. Idiots.
My first thought exactly
Not really. This is some gamer/coder’s dream life. His claims are as phony as an Obama promise
To save .25 cents of wire. Bean counters and engineers are at each other's throats from the womb. Bean counters never seem to realize that if the plane goes down, they aren't the ones that have to explain it to a judge.
Boy howdy, look at that rudder work! That pilot earned a day off...
Wouldn’t be terribly surprised if Airbus actually did.
I have been a 737 Captain for a number of years. This is utter BS.
Additionally, if the pilots don’t like what the autopilot is doing, they can simply disconnect it and fly by hand.
been there, done that, landing at Amarillo.
You’re obviously familiar with IMA.
I think that’s called “yaw”, if I remember my naval training right.
I’m with you. There’s no place I want to go that I can’t drive. My wife wants to go to Spain but I don’t see it happening.
That’s just landing into a crosswind. What this guy is talking about is telling one engine to climb, while the other one wasn’t. That would rotate the plane around its long axis, basically flipping the plane sideways.
“If you were designing an aircraft would you wire mission critical networks to a box in the passenger seat?”
Well, one thing to consider is: how many commercial aircraft were designed before there were computerized in-flight entertainment systems? They’ve added those systems and other computerized systems over the years, as patchwork upgrades I bet. So, if you are adding to an existing design, you might be tempted to “piggyback” on some existing components instead of keeping everything separate. Cut down on the costs and difficulty of the modifications.
“To save .25 cents of wire. Bean counters and engineers are at each other’s throats from the womb. Bean counters never seem to realize that if the plane goes down, they aren’t the ones that have to explain it to a judge.”
BINGO. As an engineer, I can confirm
I would NOT be at all surprised if all the aircraft systems are on one IP backbone to save a $million or so on wiring. and they figured their security software was good enough. oops
From what I read in the article “flying sideways” seems to be a bad description. He made one engine climb, so that should make the plane roll.
I think he means the wing was pointed up, so the plane itself was sideways, not flying sideways.
The flight entertainment system doesn’t even work on 70% of the flights I’ve been on.
maybe the feds are idiots?
I can relate. LOL.
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