The Future Is Here
We may earn a commission from links on this page

Planes Grounded After Hackers Hijack an Airline's Flight Plan System

We may earn a commission from links on this page.

A cyberattack on Polish airline LOT left ten flights canceled this Sunday, stranding around 1,400 people at Warsaw’s Chopin airport. The attack hit the airline’s ground computer system, which is used to make flight plans.

The hackers didn’t break into the IT on the planes, but this incident makes it even more obvious that the air travel industry needs to be vigilant about cybersecurity. Earlier this year, security researcher Chris Roberts reportedly commandeered an airplane to demonstrate how crappy United’s security setup is.

Advertisement

“We’re using state-of-the-art computer systems, so this could potentially be a threat to others in the industry,” spokesman Adrian Kubicki told Reuters.

If you weren’t able to get a Xanax prescription for travel-related anxiety, try printing this blog post out and thrusting it into a doctor’s face while sobbing.

Advertisement
Advertisement

[Reuters| Engadget | LOT ]


Contact the author at kate.knibbs@gizmodo.com.
Public PGP key
PGP fingerprint: FF8F 0D7A AB19 6D71 C967 9576 8C12 9478 EE07 10C

Photo via AP