In the last 24 hours, there have been numerous reports appearing in the international press, about a certain hacker who took over an airplane’s controls, right from his seat. The said hacker plugged his laptop into the Ethernet port of the in-flight entertainment system, and loaded up special software that enabled him to control of the aircraft’s engines, causing the plane to climb or “fly sideways”.
And you can read the full story here.
There has been much speculation about whether these reports are true or not.
I’ve researched this a bit and also talked to two experts. Both say this is not possible for the following reasons:
1. In-flight entertainment systems (IFE), flight navigation systems, Flight Management System (FMS), and aircraft controls are disparate systems — not interconnected through common hardware.
2. IFE systems are standalone systems manufactured by companies like Panasonic Avionics Corporation, Thales Group, Zodiac, Lumexis, Gogo, On Air, Row 44, Rockwell Collins, and LiveTV. FMS and the autopilot are manufactured by Sperry Corporation and others (who do not make IFE systems).
3. When IFE systems are installed on aircraft, they must be certified by the FAA and pass all of the applicable requirements found in the Federal Aviation Regulations. There are stringent tests conducted to certify these systems.
4. IFE integrates with the electrical systems in the aircraft, for its source of power.
5. Even though aircraft are now “fly-by-wire” with instructions issued from the cockpit to move control surfaces or control engines, there is still an element of human interaction. The pilot must either fly the aircraft in manual mode or program the FMS and autopilot system. So the bone of contention is really about hacking into the FMS or autopilot. It would be impossible to do so wirelessly or remotely. The Ethernet and Wi-Fi networks in the cabin are not linked to systems in the cockpit.
6. Each engine is controlled by a throttle lever in the cockpit, which is either moved manually by the pilot or automatically, after receiving instructions from the pre-programmed FMS and autopilot. It’s not possible to do that via an in-flight entertainment system.
So the issue has been largely blown out of context and, as usual, over-hyped and sensationalized by the media.
The lesson to learn from this episode: Mission critical systems should be separated from public networks. The Internet of Things, in this context, needs to have an exclusive, impervious networks.
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