Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Oberlin College have created a device a little bigger than a coin that can be discreetly inserted into an airplane. It can then swap commands between the plane's systems — including changing the autopilot's route or showing the pilot false data.
Researchers at the University of California, San Diego and Oberlin College have created a device a little bigger than a coin that can be discreetly inserted into an airplane. It can then swap commands between the plane's systems — including changing the autopilot's route or showing the pilot false data.
Wired reported this.
According to the researchers, in the Boeing 737 aircraft, the connector they needed was hidden behind a hatch on the outside of the aircraft: it could be opened without special tools in about 15 seconds, and installing the device itself took less than a minute.
The device connects to the aircraft's internal network, through which its components exchange data. The researchers found that they can send their own electrical signals so that they overlap the real commands. They called their technique Bus Driver - bus driver. In practice, this allowed them, for example, to change waypoints in the on-board computer, which works with the flight plan. As a result, the autopilot could get a different route.
The researchers could also change information about the aircraft's weight or the air temperature outside the plane. Both parameters are important for calculations before takeoff. However, the pilot's display could still see the old values. So the crew could notice the discrepancy, but not necessarily immediately understand which of the indicators was correct and why the systems were showing different data.
The team first reported their findings to Boeing in 2020 and has been sharing their findings with the company for years. The researchers even demonstrated the attack in Boeing’s test lab. Boeing now says that existing levels of protection and aircraft operating features significantly reduce the likelihood of such an attack in real-world conditions.
However, the researchers emphasize that airlines should consider the scenario where an attacker gains even brief physical access to the aircraft. It is noteworthy that protecting against this scenario does not necessarily require high technology. According to the researchers, one can simply remove the vulnerable connector or fill it with epoxy resin .
Previously, dev.ua talked about a similar principle of attacking cars: hijackers can connect to the car through a physically accessible port and gain access to its electronic systems.
