New York – A passenger took control of a jet after hacking into its computer systems.
In what is believed to be the first incident of its kind, the hacker, Chris Roberts, apparently changed the direction of the plane.
The prominent cyber security campaigner claims he pulled off the stunt to flag up air safety issues.
However experts said he had put lives at risk.
“You cannot promote the idea that security research benefits humanity while defending research that endangered hundreds of innocents,” said Alex Stamos, chief information security officer of web giant Yahoo.
Roberts had connected his laptop to a box underneath aisle seats that controls the in-flight entertainment service.
From there he was able to access the rest of the plane’s electronic systems. His actions have led to him being questioned at least three times this year by the FBI.
Special agent Mark Hurley said Roberts bragged about his prowess during an interview in February.
“He stated that he caused one of the airplane engines to climb resulting in a lateral or sideways movement of the plane during one of these flights,” said Mr Hurley.
“He also stated that he used software after compromising, exploiting or hacking the airplane’s networks. He used the software to monitor traffic from the cockpit system.”
Roberts told the FBI he removed the cover of the in-flight entertainment box by “wiggling and squeezing” it off before connecting his laptop with an ethernet cable.
He used default passwords to access the in-flight entertainment system, and from there was able to access other systems.
The FBI asked for a search warrant for Roberts’ home after another incident on April 15 when he was taken off a United Airlines flight from Chicago to Syracuse, New York state.
Before boarding he had sent tweets suggesting that he could turn on the emergency oxygen on the plane, signing one message off with a smile.
The FBI affidavit says that the plane was tracked down and investigations revealed the box under Roberts’ seat had been damaged.
Roberts, from Denver, Colorado, told website Wired.com he had accessed the in-flight networks on planes around 15 times to observe data traffic. He recently tweeted: “Over last five years my only interest has been to improve aircraft security.”
He told the FBI he was furnishing them with information “because he would like the vulnerabilities fixed”.
Laptops and computer equipment were taken from his house by the FBI.
Roberts, who is a researcher with the security firm One World Labs, has not yet been charged with any offence. He began investigating aviation security after obtaining flight manuals and wiring diagrams for various planes.
Anti-terrorism officials have often expressed concern that the security of planes could be compromised by hackers exploiting on-board wi-fi.
The US Government Accountability Office was told by cyber experts that airlines are increasingly relying on firewalls vulnerable to attack. – Daily Mail