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El Reg reports:
The FBI has accused a security researcher of hacking into the entertainment system of a United Airlines plane mid-flight, before causing the aircraft to temporarily fly "sideways".
Infosec bod Chris Roberts allegedly made that audacious claim to Feds' special agent Mark Hurley, who subsequently applied for a search warrant to examine Roberts' seized electronic devices.
Thirteen items, including thumb drives, a MacBook Pro laptop and an iPad Air were confiscated from Roberts on 15 April this year, after the researcher exited a United Airline flight in Syracuse, New York, according to the Feds' affidavit (PDF).
Roberts, who founded One World Labs, has been quizzed twice by the FBI over the course of the past few months.
He apparently told the Feds that he had hacked into the inflight entertainment systems of Airbus and Boeing aircraft roughly 15 to 20 times between 2011 and 2014.
A story from the BBC has a different perspective on the situation:
Prof Alan Woodward from Surrey University told the BBC he found it "difficult to believe" a passenger could access and manipulate flight control systems from a plug socket on an aircraft seat.
"Flight systems are typically kept physically separate, as are any safety critical systems," he said.
"I can imagine only that someone has misunderstood something in the conversation between the researcher and the FBI, someone is exaggerating to make a point, or, it is actually possible and the aircraft manufacturers have some urgent work to do."/blockquote
The researcher in question, Chris Roberts said on twitter, "There's a whole five years of stuff that the affidavit incorrectly compressed into 1 paragraph... lots to untangle".
(Score: 2) by frojack on Monday May 18 2015, @09:00PM
Climbing is, after all, controlled by the control surfaces, and while it may need increased thrust, I don't see why that would be a distinct command. I will concede that my knowledge of jetliners is more than a bit lacking, though, so perhaps that is how it actually works.
In straight and level flight, clime is controlled by power (thrust). Speed is controlled by control surfaces (pitch).
I know this seems counter intuitive but its one of the first things you will learn in pilot school.
In practice power and pitch are seldom used alone. But in a plane trimmed for strait and level flight, adding power will induce a climb. Adding power to only one wing mounted engine will raise that wing.
I still don't believe this can be accomplished from the passenger seat of an aircraft with nothing but a compute. And if it can, we need to de-certify all those aircraft systems.
No, you are mistaken. I've always had this sig.
(Score: 2) by Common Joe on Tuesday May 19 2015, @04:37AM
This right here is what no one seems to be saying in these stories and it should be blaring quite loudly from the media. The systems should be physically separate for safety reasons. Any half baked security person should tell you that. And I find it hard to believe that the plane manufacturers don't do that since they tend to over-engineer safety on purpose.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Tuesday May 19 2015, @07:07AM
What kind of pilot school?
The flight gear (simulator) manual states exactly what you do, *for propeller aircraft*. It then goes on to say that it's the other way around for jets.
(No explanation as to why, but I suspect that it's related to the amount of thrust available and/or how quickly the engine(s) can throttle up).
So, until you say otherwise, I'm going to guess that your knowledge is about propeller aircraft, while the article likely is a jet liner.