The hacker created an Android application that allows you to capture the plane

Smartphones based on the Android operating system revealed a new function - with their help you can capture the plane, came to the conclusion at a computer security conference in Amsterdam Hack in the Box. The sensational report of one of the conference participants opened his eyes to the vulnerability of on -board computers of aircraft, which at any time can be hacked by hackers.

Experience was delivered by Hugo Teso, a pilot of commercial aviation with 12 years of experience and security consultant in one of the German companies. The text of his report can be found on the conference website .

During the experiment, on which he worked for four years, the hacker used the Virtual Aircraft: the real control system that he bought in the Aviation Spare parts section on Ebay. On it, he loaded the Simon operating system, which is installed on the on -board computer. Against this system, the cracker used his Samsung smartphone on the Android platform, in particular, he created a special application called Planesploit, betrayed The Daily Mail .

“To capture” the Teso on-board computer allowed the vulnerability of the ADS-B system, with which pilots receive flight information about other ships from the ground in the area of ​​their movement and forecasts of the weather and ACARS system, which pilots use to exchange information with dispatchers. The first program supplied the hacker with information about the location of the aircraft, and the second - allowed to send commands to the on -board computer, and so that the pilots could not track this, emphasizes Help Net Security .

Teso thus managed to change the flight course of the aircraft, the temperature on board and turn on the on -board lights. However, according to him, all these operations are possible only in conditions of activation of autopilot on board. Therefore, manual control of the aircraft can be considered the key to security.

He did not disclose all the information about the vulnerable places he found in the control system, noting that they change depending on the type of aircraft. He has already reported the results of his study to the US Federal Aviation Administration and the European Aviation Security Agency.