If it isn’t already possible for a cyberterrorist to remotely hack a plane and commandeer its guidance system, such a virtual hijacking will soon be possible. Security expert Hugo Teso has been claiming for years that the deed can be accomplished with just a smartphone, not even a laptop required, and in the last week reports suggest that a commercial plane’s system may have been breached. Once a computer is inside of something, it’s hackable, whether it’s a plane, a driverless car or an autonomous lawnmower. An age of cheap and powerful tools means wonderful and horrible things happen. It will be a permanent race to stay ahead of hackers with ill intent. From Marcel Rosenbach and Gerald Traufetter at Spiegel:

The Spaniard’s name is Hugo Teso, and he now works for a data security firm based in Berlin. For the past several years, he has been commissioned by various companies to try to break in to their computers and networks. But because Teso is also a pilot and continues to hold a valid license, he has developed a reputation in the aviation industry as someone whose tech-security warnings should be taken seriously.

Teso has demonstrated that you don’t even need a computer to hi-jack a plane remotely. A smartphone equipped with an app called PlaneSploit, which Teso himself developed, could be enough. In theorycyber-terrorists could use such an app, or something similar, to take over a plane’s steering system and, in a worst-case scenario, cause the plane to crash.

Danger Facing Airlines and Passengers

Attacks on cockpit computers have been an issue at hacker conferences for years. But airlines and airplane manufacturers have long sought to play down their warnings — or they have ignored them altogether. Last week, though, the debate intensified. The US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) is looking into whether a US-based IT expert named Chris Roberts actually implemented — at least in part, from on board an aircraft — the things that Teso has been warning about and simulating. He claims to have penetrated the entertainment system of a normal passenger jet several times and even to have manipulated the plane’s engines during a flight.

The claims and ensuing investigation have triggered a new debate about a danger potentially facing airlines and passengers.•