After reports emerged last year that the FBI was investigating a hacker’s claim to have taken control of a commercial flight’s computers, U.S. Sen. Bill Nelson, D-Fla., hopes to ensure that will never happen again.
From his perch as the ranking Democrat on the U.S. Senate Commerce Committee, Nelson teamed up with U.S. Sen. Dan Coats, R-Ind., at the end of last week to file an amendment as the Senate continues to wrestle with reauthorizing the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA). Nelson and Coats proposed to “require aircraft manufacturers to keep flight-control systems separate from other onboard computerized systems such as in-flight entertainment” in an attempt to crack down on hacking. Nelson and Coats filed the amendment to the FAA reauthorization. Coats is the chairman of the Joint Economic Conference and is not running for another term in November.
“Whether or not we want to face it, we are in an era that requires us to keep certain systems in an airliner separate so someone can’t hack into one system and suddenly take control of a plane,” Nelson said on Friday.
Last year, Chris Roberts was held by the FBI after he went on Twitter and claimed that he had take over a United Airlines flight to Syracuse that he was on. Roberts told the FBI that he had hacked into the airplane’s computers around twenty times and even managed to control the airplane’s engine.
The Government Accountability Office (GAO) brought out a report last year noting airplane computers represented a major threat with hundreds of them vulnerable to being hacked or to other cyberattacks.
Reach Kevin Derby at kderby@sunshinestatenews.com or follow him on Twitter: @KevinDerbySSN
