(01-04-2015 09:32 )terence Wrote: i mean if terrorist had the capabilities to hack that system whats to stop them hacking air traffic control and causing havoc.
It seems that people are interfering with air traffic control already:
"Britain’s Civil Aviation Authority has issued a safety alert about a new threat to air passengers: hackers taking over air traffic control transmissions and giving pilots bogus orders.
The number of incidents in which radio hackers have broken into frequencies used by British air traffic controllers and given false instructions to pilots, or broadcasted fake distress calls, are on an alarming rise. There were 3 such incidents there in 1998, 18 last year, and now, so far this year, 20.
Fortunately in all those cases, pilots ascertained that the directions given them were fake. But had they not done so, their lives and those of their passengers could have been placed in serious jeopardy.
In one incident last month, the Sunday Times of London reported that a plane landing at East Midlands Airport was given bogus instructions by a hacker. The real air traffic controllers did not hear the hacker’s transmission and were alerted only when they heard the plane’s crew speaking to someone else, the newspaper said. Realizing the aircraft could be in danger, a controller issued the frantic instruction 'Respond to my voice only!' A criminal investigation has been launched."
(ABC News, 29 August 2014)