Hacker reveals threat to aircraft cyber security through on-board WiFi

Cyber security researcher Ruben Santamarta has revealed a method of hacking into the satellite communications equipment on aircraft through their on-board WiFi links and through inflight entertainment systems.Santamarta is due to report his findings at a conference in Las Vegas this week. Santamarta stated that he discovered the system vulnerabilities by “reverse engineering” the on-board systems’ source code and firmware. He said: “These devices are wide open. The goal of this talk [at the conference] is to help change that situation.”While acknowledging his research has only been conducted under laboratory conditions, Santamarta also stated that in theory, a hacker could