A hacking device no bigger than a 50p piece could be used to take control of a Boeing 737 aircraft enabling changes to the flight path, researchers have shown.
A team at the University of California San Diego (UC San Diego) designed, built and programmed a small hardware device that can be plugged into a port in the belly of a Boeing 737. Potential hackers would only require around 60 seconds to install it if able to gain access to the right part of the aircraft.
While access to these areas is normally carefully controlled in airports, the researchers said that security was not always up to scratch.
In a proof-of-concept attack, the researchers were able to change the plane’s flight path and change data that could make take-off conditions unsafe.
The Boeing 737 is one of the most used aircraft in commercial aviation, with 8,000 in service today. It makes up a huge proportion of aircraft in the fleets of some of the USA’s most well-used airlines. This includes about 25% of Delta’s existing...