And I thought desktop computers had problems...

[River]

G'day 'team',

 

Noticed this item mentioned in a security organisation newsletter which begs some serious questions I believe...?

 

"Remote-Control Airplane Software

 

Does anyone other than me see a problem with this?

 

"Some 30 European businesses and research institutes are working to create software that would make it possible from a distance to regain control of an aircraft from hijackers, according to the German news magazine.

 

"The system 'which could only be controlled from the ground would conduct the aircraft posing a problem to the nearest airport whether it liked it or not,' according to extracts from next Monday's Der Spiegel released Saturday.

 

"'A hijacker would have no chance of reaching his goal, ' it said."

 

Unless his goal were, um, hijacking the aircraft.

 

The project costs 36 million euros (45 million dollars), of which the European Commission is contributing 19.5 million euros, and involves aircraft maker Airbus, electronics giant Siemens and the Technical University of Munich.

 

It seems to me that by designing remote-control software for airplanes, you open the possibility for someone to hijack the plane without even being on board. Sure, there are going to be computer-security controls protecting this thing, but we all know how well that sort of thing has worked in the past.

 

"The system would be designed in such a way that even a computer hacker on board could not get round it."

 

But what about computer hackers on the ground?

 

I'm not saying this is a bad idea; it might be a good idea. But this security countermeasure opens up an entirely new vulnerability, and I hope that someone is studying that new vulnerability."

 

And people wonder why I love flying recreational aircarft that a 'Mark 1" human has total control of...

 

Cheers,

 

 

[River]

Oh, and whilst on the subject of airline security... :devil:

 

By now everyone has seen those large CTX baggage scanning machines. At about $4 million each, they're very good at finding explosives in luggage.

 

Unfortunately, they're also very good at finding other things too - the false positive rate is very high.

 

Turns out that peanut butter looks a whole lot like plastic explosives (C-4, Semtec, etc)... I wont go into the details other than to say, watch your packed lunch if you have peanut butter sandwiches...

 

Cya,

 

 

[Ross]

Hi Rodger

 

I'm with you Rodger. I think I would rather fly with a pilot who has a vested interest in keeping himself alive.

 

Regards