Hacking Airplanes: No One Benefits When Lives Are Risked To Prove A Point

There are a lot of things Denver is known for being high on --  mostly altitude. Lately, it isn’t just the sticky green political battle that has been gaining attention. It’s the high-altitude antics of our local information security enthusiast Chris Roberts. But, like most highs and hacked aviation systems, this story is bound to plummet into the lifeless, high-desert plains. Why? News agencies are reporting that Chris Roberts, as a passenger, took control of an airplane mid flight by hacking the plane’s entertainment system, and was able to briefly redirect the flight’s course.

The fact is that the information security industry, the Department of Defense, the aviation industry, and other agencies, have known that this is possible for years. The capability itself is not news, and even if information security analysts want to presume they are the first to uncover a hole such as this, they aren’t. Embedded systems engineers, especially ones managing and building critical systems, are aware of these risks, and are continually working towards cost effective measures to combat these risks. After researching Internet of Things technology and embedded systems for over a decade, I came to realize that most engineering teams do understand the risks, but they are limited by budgetary constraints, talent, corporate politics, and time.