Planes Can Be Hacked Via Inflight Wi-fi, Says Researcher 151
wired_parrot writes In a presentation to be shown Thursday at the Black Hat conference, cybersecurity consultant Ruben Santamarta is expected to outline how planes can be hacked via inflight wi-fi. Representatives of in-flight communication systems confirmed his findings but downplayed the risks, noting that physical access to the hardware would still be needed and only the communication system would be affected.
Re:So, which is it? (Score:5, Interesting)
Is it as Ruben Santamarta says, that the plane's satellite communications system can be hacked into via the plane's wifi? Or is it as the manufacturers say, and the hacker would have to have physical access to the hardware and couldn't do much of anything anyway? There's two very different points of view here and I'm not sure how they're supposed to meet up.
Any airplane manufacturer that is stupid enough to link their passenger wi-fi system to ANYTHING else, deserves to get a few planes stuffed into the ground. Same with auto companies. If true, the whole thing is about as lamebrained as it gets.
Volkswagen hooks up their audio systems to the CANBUS on cars. Those audio systems may have bluetooth enabled. This may allow a hacker to get onto the CANBUS via BT. I haven't tried, but it's definitely something that one could attempt. Other manufacturers do this also, such as GM and Chevy.
Re:So, which is it? (Score:4, Interesting)
Other manufacturers do this also, such as GM and Chevy.
Yes, that was my understanding as well. And that was my point. It just doesn't look very smart, from where I sit.
In my view (which I would be happy to review and modify if someone has a better idea), you have 3 basic systems in a modern automobile. In order of importance: [1] critical control and feedback, [2] internal environment, and [3] entertainment.
[1] and [2] should have strictly limited communication, if any. [2] and [3] should probably have none, and [1] and [3] should not communicate at all under any circumstances.