Originally Posted by wicket

That really depends on the architecture of the plane's computer network. This vulnerability could have been avoided by isolating the in-flight entertainment system from the flight control system. In my opinion, the person(s) who thought it would be a good idea to put both systems together is/are way more guilty than the guy who exploited this glaring flaw.

As pichlo mentioned, the article is lacking details so it's not clear how much knowledge or experience this guy has with planes. This means that there is the possibility that he knew exactly what he was doing and therefore never put the safety of anyone at risk. He appears to be collaborating with the F.B.I and he hasn't yet been charged with any crime. This is unusal. His discovery may well prevent future terrorist attacks.

Originally Posted by Dave999

Im pretty sure they are not interconected.

Originally Posted by wicket

Maybe not purposely interconnected but there must have been some sort of physical connection. The hack would not have been possible had they been isolated.

Originally Posted by wicket

Originally Posted by Dave999

Originally Posted by wicket

That really depends on the architecture of the plane's computer network. This vulnerability could have been avoided by isolating the in-flight entertainment system from the flight control system. In my opinion, the person(s) who thought it would be a good idea to put both systems together is/are way more guilty than the guy who exploited this glaring flaw.

As pichlo mentioned, the article is lacking details so it's not clear how much knowledge or experience this guy has with planes. This means that there is the possibility that he knew exactly what he was doing and therefore never put the safety of anyone at risk. He appears to be collaborating with the F.B.I and he hasn't yet been charged with any crime. This is unusal. His discovery may well prevent future terrorist attacks.

Im pretty sure they are not interconected. so it definitely not plug n play unless he got hold of netbus for airplanes.

Maybe not purposely interconnected but there must have been some sort of physical connection. The hack would not have been possible had they been isolated.

Originally Posted by endsormeans

Love the "boom" at the end there wicket..

Originally Posted by endsormeans

lemme guess ..
that was the sound of the "truth bomb dropping" ..eh?


I completely agree with 99.9% of what everybody said....
except that one guy in the corner with cabbage -smelling B.O.
I never agree with him..
the .1% disagreement I got is that federal aviation authorities... regardless of border they are realllll sticklers for safety, security, and protocol...
forget the governmental security agencies..and what they view as palpable threat.
There will be some serious refitting happening and quick.
In the mean time I'm sure this guy has been told not to breathe one word to anyone..and I'm sure for the time being he's being monitored as a precautionary measure.

Originally Posted by juiceme

Now there's one thing you are forgetting with this case, and it is the final word, the grease that runs the gears of companies and nations alike; money.

Aerospace companies are under pressure to develop features quickly for the benefit of the market, just like all competitive business. There are 2 important factors determining this; time-to-market and cost-of-production.

There are some systems that need to be ensured to be reliable, like flight OM and others that are not so critical like entertainment systems. A company can save a truckload of money for each physical component that is not included in the plane; it generates savings in cost-of-installation, cost-of-hardware and mostly, the total weight of the plane.

I'd imagine savings are pretty good if you can have less computer units in the plane, run all communication through a shared bus (less heavy cabling) and use system isolation on the protocol level.

The urge to do so must be really irresistible.... If only someone manages to convince the regulators and auditors that it is safe... remember, there is the truckload of money for every single plane sold to be made in the savings...

boom.

Originally Posted by Dave999

please just dont use boom when we talk about plans. I just thougt we lost the plan.

Originally Posted by juiceme

Well then you just need to plan more carefully the next time, okay?