A warning has come from an agency of federal watchdog that, hacking could be occur on the commercial airlines of U.S, by the passengers during flight, accessing on the flight controls by wireless entertaining system of the plane.
U.S Government Accountability Office (GAO) has reported that, they have found a danger from one of the several outboard for weakness of cybersecurity. Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) will must be take the control system of air traffic, towards the next generation technology.
The exact words according to the report are,
“Internet connectivity in the cabin should be considered a direct link between the aircraft and the outside world, which includes potential malicious actors.”
Michael Huerta, administrator of FAA, has concurred with GAO report and has said that, to find out the needed changes, aviation regulator already has started working with the National Security Agency (NSA) and governmental security experts.
In a GAO investigators conversation with cybersecurity experts, they spoke about emerging firewalls, to protect the avionics from hacking. The GAO investigators said that, the security system will be breached. If the flight control and the flight entertainment system usage the same routers and wiring.
An expert of cybersecurity told to the investigator that, “a malware or virus” on the websites, browsed by the passengers, may give an opportunity for a malicious cyberattack.
Congress lawmakers have called FAA for that reason.
Peter DeFazio, U.S. Representative said,
“FAA must focus on aircraft certification standards that would prevent a terrorist with a laptop in the cabin or on the ground from taking control of an airplane through the passenger Wi-Fi system.”
