Android can be used to take over/hijack an airplane

[Explicitic]

Well...this is certainly interesting, yet very frightening.

http://www.technobuffalo.com/2013/04/11/android-flight-management-system-exploit/

It seems that guy was able to build a custom app capable of taking over a plane's navigation systems. It's able to redirect the plane just by a tap of a location on the map. The exploit only works when the plane is in autopilot, but it's still very frightening.

 

[roxxette]

the most interesting part is he didnt try to sell it

 

[Sylon]

the most interesting part is he didnt try to sell it

It was a proof of concept to show that there are massive security holes in the airline industry. Hopefully, airline security will listen. Not all hackers are evil.

 

[roxxette]

It was a proof of concept to show that there are massive security holes in the airline industry. Hopefully, airline security will listen. Not all hackers are evil.

Thats what is impresive, with the ****** economy whe live atm it would have been a great opportunity to make some good money hopefully he gets some kind of reward or they use him for future projects.

 

[Markyboy81]

I'm surprised that you're able to do this with the autopilot, I can't see a reason why the system would allow it to be controlled remotely. Surely it should just be wired into the plane?

 

[DesertEagle]

I didn't know the autopilot systems were that vulnerable

 

[0dev]

It's not really Android that can hack airplanes, it's the app the guy wrote, it was just on Android because it's a nice open platform to develop proof of concepts like this on.

Anyway, this is scary indeed. I hope this gets fixed soon, the one place you really don't want exploits is ****ing airplanes

 

[0dev]

This has now been dismissed:

As reported by Information Week, the FAA's said that it "is aware that a German information technology consultant has alleged he has detected a security issue with the Honeywell NZ-2000 Flight Management System (FMS) using only a desktop computer," but the hack does not "pose a flight safety concern because it does not work on certified flight hardware." Additionally, the FAA says that "the described technique cannot engage or control the aircraft's autopilot system using the FMS or prevent a pilot from overriding the autopilot," meaning that "a hacker cannot obtain 'full control of an aircraft' as the technology consultant has claimed."

That jibes with the EASA's position on the matter. "There are major differences between a PC-based training FMS software and an embedded FMS software," said the group. "In particular, the FMS simulation software does not have the same overwriting protection and redundancies that is included in the certified flight software."

 

[mrsir2009]

That's quite interesting... Although I doubt it would be any good for terrorists, as the pilot would probably notice pretty quickly that the plane is going off course, so he'd just disengage the autopilot and fly manually.