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US air traffic control computer system vulnerable to terrorist hackers
The US system for guiding airplanes is open to vulnerabilities from outside hackers, the Government Accountability Office said Monday. The weaknesses that threaten the Federal Aviation Administration's ability to ensure the safety of flights include the failure to patch known three-year-old security holes, the transmission and storage of unencrypted passwords, and the continued use of "end-of-life" key servers. (arstechnica.com) المزيد...Sort type: [Top] [Newest]
Didn't Bruce Willis run across this 20yrs ago?
Now retired for 10 years, most "Automation Specialists" have known about vulnerabilities. The strength of the system is also it's area of concern. The ATC system integrates thousands of functions and computers to provide the aviators with information they need.
ATC controllers are well trained and prepared for outages and have procedures ready for failures. A hacker could certainly disrupt normal operations fairly easily, but actually creating a total system failure that would put our country in danger would be difficult.
Remember, September 2001, we had a few hijackings that indicated a possible attack, and with very limited information, we were successful in getting all civilian aircraft on the ground and safe. The only real concern is that over the last 10 years, the FAA has chosen to rely more and more on automated systems and less concentration on maintaining sufficient resources and staffing for ATC facilities.
ATC controllers are well trained and prepared for outages and have procedures ready for failures. A hacker could certainly disrupt normal operations fairly easily, but actually creating a total system failure that would put our country in danger would be difficult.
Remember, September 2001, we had a few hijackings that indicated a possible attack, and with very limited information, we were successful in getting all civilian aircraft on the ground and safe. The only real concern is that over the last 10 years, the FAA has chosen to rely more and more on automated systems and less concentration on maintaining sufficient resources and staffing for ATC facilities.
Terrific...Another thing our federal government does well.And we have people in this country screaming that the govt needs more tax revenue....
how do you hack a tube set?
This is news? What isn't vulnerable? The government floats these stories because the government's fix to all problems, real or made up, is "We need more money to fix the problem." Well, we could spend another 2 Trillion (with a T) and not be any more secure from attack than we are now, but a lot of people who got their pockets lined would be very happy. We already pay for a very capable military. The answer is; for our leaders, if we have any, to make it very clear that an attack on our people is an attack on our country and we won't stand for it and will deal with it with severe actions and not severe words and finger waving. The weaker we respond to these events the more they will happen with increasing severity. The cat has been away too long and the mice are running the show.
Well stated, bbabis