We’re in the very best of hands
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…
he 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.
And then there’s this:
One of three conductors aboard the Amtrak train that derailed in Philadelphia this week told investigators she heard the locomotive’s engineer say the train had been struck by an object, National Transportation Safety Board member Robert Sumwalt said Friday.
The assistant conductor said she overheard radio transmissions made Tuesday by Amtrak engineer Brandon Bostian and the engineer of a Southeastern Pennsylvania Transportation Authority (SEPTA) train.
“She recalled that the SEPTA engineer had reported to the train dispatcher that he had either been hit by a rock or shot at, and the SEPTA engineer said that he had a broken windshield, and he placed his train into emergency stop,” Sumwalt said. “She also believed that she heard (the Amtrak) engineer say something about his train being struck by something.”
As part of the investigation of the Amtrak crash, the engineer of the SEPTA train will be contracted. This is interesting information, as well:
The locomotive’s windshield was shattered in the derailment. But Sumwalt said there is “particular damage” to the lower portion of the windshield that the FBI will examine. He described it as a “circular pattern that emanates out just a bit.”
This may turn out to be a false lead. But it could be the tip of a very disturbing iceberg.
Remember the Beltway sniper attacks in the Washington Metropolitan Area? Could we be dealing with another John Lee Malvo or John Allen Muhammad?
Okay,I’m only going to travel by rick-shaw from this point out.
Good thing people put computers in their cars, right?
Like I said before, really funny how those people and reporters died in car crashes because the computer “disengaged the breaks” and then “activated the acceleration”.
Re: access to flight controls via the in-flight entertainment (IFE) system. Colour me *very* skeptical. I did design work on the IFE for two of the airplanes noted and there wasn’t even a *physical* connection between the two never mind a hackable computer controlled connection. Add to that: the throttles for those two planes are controlled by a steel cable that runs from the cockpit to the engine. Another of the planes noted is an older design than the first two but probably very similar in design architecture.
As to hacking into the IFE, I don’t have any personal knowledge of the system software but would be only mildly surprised if it is possible. And if it is possible, I’d be very surprised if it isn’t corrected quickly.
Further, the airframe, the engines and the IFE are all designed, and sold, by different companies; the airframe builder just integrates the items selected by the customer buying the airplane. The idea that the engines and the IFE systems would be electronically connected together is absurd and I doubt that *any* airplane manufacturer has *ever* done such a thing.
bob:
I’m not tech-savvy, but that’s what I would think, as well. The article seems to indicate it’s possible and that his claim is being taken very seriously, but I am highly skeptical.
There’s no way he knows how to do it, because he didn’t test it. If he did, he wouldn’t have reported himself, would he?
Reporting yourself in and then claiming you tampered already with something, that’s kind of like convicting yourself without a jury or judge.
The most likely explanation for this — so far — is that a journalist reported something about which he or she knew very little, and, in the process, got some crucial details wrong. (I cringe — or laugh — every time I see a news story referring to “.9mm caliber” or a “semi-automatic revolver”. Sometimes there’s just no substitute for finding a knowledgeable proofreader.)