Hacker makes plane fly sideways

driving is seeming a lot safer.

[ken_b]

Driving is sounding better all the time. Which road do I take from NYC to London?

Computer expert briefly made plane fly sideways

A computer security expert hacked into a plane's in-flight entertainment system and made it briefly fly sideways by telling one of the engines to go into climb mode.

Roberts told the FBI he had hacked into planes "15 to 20 times," according to court documents first made public Friday.

[usatoday.com...]

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[graeme_p]

Its not him who needs to be arrested, its the negligent idiots who did not physically isolate the flight systems from the entertainment systems.

[LifeinAsia]

the negligent idiots who did not physically isolate the flight systems from the entertainment systems.

I think it's the the negligent idiots who did not understand the difference between the flight systems from the entertainment systems.

[ken_b]

Am I reading that right? Did they actually secure the system

using default IDs and passwords

Not sure these are the people I want to trust with my life.
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[londrum]

that kind of thing goes on all the time -- i made a bus come to stop the other day, just by pressing the bell. they have it rigged up to a sound system which pipes a noise (a note) into the driver's ears, making him press the brakes.

[lucy24]

Seriously, the driver can choose to turn off the Stop Requested sound. I had a bus-driver friend who used to reassure passengers that the sound was set to a special frequency that only bus drivers can hear.

[J_RaD]

A computer security expert hacked into a plane's in-flight entertainment system

been on a few flights where it crashed out and i got to watch it boot up......crossed my mind that someone could probably get into this, but then i said NO WAY this would be connected to anything related to FLYING THE PLANE.

guess i was wrong... W-T-F! no reason this should be touching ANY PART OF THE PLANE! it should be on its own cables touching nothing but the server! to me this is seriously *DUHHHH* how the heck this got past ANYONE is W O W !

whats next im going to find out the flushing the toilet can trigger a landing gear to come down?

[tbear]

I hope NASA aren't using the same programmers.......... :o

But then, they did get a little confused with metric measurements, coming from Europe, for the Mars probes...... ::)

[lucy24]

they did get a little confused with metric measurements

It probably goes without saying that, at the time, this was universally misreported as something off-the-chart ridiculous like using inches in place of centimeters. Just the thing to inspire confidence in the news media. (Much later, I learned that there aren't just two minutely different chronological systems. There are at least five.)

[Demaestro]

He did everything correct.... right up until he promised to stop doing it, then he did it again, and was dumb enough to tweet about it.... I don't like whitehat hackers being arrested, their service is too valuable for law enforcement to remove their incentives to do it....... But he had already reported it, then promised to not do it again.... and then he did it again anyways, which got him busted.... I find it hard to feel bad for him after that.

[J_RaD]

yes i don't feel sorry for him at all, in fact once he found out he could do what he wanted he shouldn't have done anything! if he was white hat he would have been doing everything he could to make sure it was fixed ASAP. instead hes off screwing around again...and tweeting this to the world... whitehat...no....stupid, yes. getting what he deserves right now.

[londrum]

If I was him I'd probably be more worried about getting kidnapped by terrorists, wanting to learn all my info. Or maybe that only happens in the movies

[engine]

that kind of thing goes on all the time -- i made a bus come to stop the other day, just by pressing the bell. they have it rigged up to a sound system which pipes a noise (a note) into the driver's ears, making him press the brakes.

LOL

Back on topic, it's madness that anyone can get access to the flight systems. Also, what clown thought it might be a good idea to make the plane fly sideways! Irresponsible and down-right dangerous, imho.

[toidi]

Nothing in the article indicates he actually succeeded in accessing flight controls other than his own statements. 100's of passengers, pilots and flight crew and not one has spoken to the media about a plane flying sideways?

[bird]

...fly sideways by telling one of the engines to go into climb mode

Does an airplane engine even have a "climb mode"?
And does activating it make the plane go "sideways"?
Has anyone independently confirmed that there actually is a functional connection between passenger entertainment and engine control systems?

quaak

But getting the global media to broadcast such a story is a really nice publicity stunt for a self proclaimed "computer security expert".

[toidi]

But getting the global media to broadcast such a story is a really nice publicity stunt for a self proclaimed "computer security expert".

Like the picture of the korean clown pointing at his missle coming out of the water. It was so obviously fake but the media treated it like positive proof.

[Rob_Banks]

Does an airplane engine even have a "climb mode"?
And does activating it make the plane go "sideways"?

I don't have any specifics, but I'm guessing "climb mode" is an explanation for an increase in engine speed.
There is an airport I fly through fairly regularly that has a significant crosswind during the day. Planes come in to land with a sideways angle with the pilot straightening the plane just prior to touchdown. That's more a rudder function rather than engine, but you could cause an angled flight by boosting power to engines on one side of the aircraft. Airplanes can't "fly" sideways which is why they tilt when turning. That's a really poor explanation by me, but I'm pretty sure the pilots would have had a total fit if their aircraft controls were randomly changing.

[mack]

I think the term sideways was a bit misleading. If he gave one engine more power than the other it could cause some yaw. I agree with the previous comments. Why have any connection between the entertainment system and flight systems?

Mack.