Incident Response, TDR

FBI warns FAA to watch for suspicious hacking activity on flights

The FBI issued an alert to the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) earlier this week to warn about hackers who might try to access airplane network ports, according to Wired.

The alert follows the release of a Government Accountability Office (GAO) report published this past week that pointed out security flaws in passenger Wi-Fi networks that could make planes vulnerable to hacking.

Flight crews should report “suspicious activity” relating to travelers connecting “unknown cables or wires to the IFE system or unusual parts of the airplane seat,” the alert stated. It also recommends that network logs from aircrafts be reviewed to ensure suspicious activity, including network scanning and intrusion attempts, is documented for further analysis.

Posted on the agency's private industry notification system, flight crews are also instructed to keep an eye out for suspicious behavior concerning aviation wireless signals.

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