Silly headline. Is the FBI confirming that flight
controls are part of the entertainment system? After repeated
warnings? The airlines don't have a simple maintenance switch they
can turn off after updating their systems? If the FBI cold prove any
of this, wouldn't they arrest this guy?
Hacker told
F.B.I. he made plane fly sideways after cracking entertainment system
A well-known U.S. hacker told F.B.I. agents he
took momentary control of an airplane’s engines mid-flight by
hacking into its inflight entertainment system, according to a
document filed in U.S. federal court and obtained by APTN
National News.
… Roberts has not yet been charged with any
crime. The allegations contained in the search warrant application
have not been proven in court.
… F.B.I. agents obtained the search warrant on
April 17 to probe a number of electronic items seized from Roberts
after he arrived in Syracuse, NY, from Chicago on April 15. Roberts
had posted a joke tweet earlier in the day while on a United Airlines
flight between Denver and Chicago. The
tweet referred to hacking into the airplane’s in-flight
entertainment and passenger oxygen mask system.
… Roberts also told the agents he hacked into
airplane networks and was able “to monitor traffic from the cockpit
system.”
According to the search warrant application,
Roberts said he hacked into the systems by accessing the in-flight
entertainment system using his laptop and an Ethernet cable. [What
would he plug the Ethernet cable in to? Bob]
… F.B.I. agents let Roberts go after they
seized his equipment and questioned him in Syracuse. The agents then
tracked the Denver to Chicago airplane Roberts took before connecting
to Syracuse. Roberts sat in seat A3 on the Chicago flight. The
airplane was traced to Philadelphia and F.B.I. agents discovered the
boxes in seats A2 and A3 showed evidence of tampering, according to
the warrant application document.
The document stated the box under A2 was “damaged”
with the outer cover “open approximately” half and inch and “one
of the retaining screws was not seated and was exposed.”
… Shortly after the incident with Roberts,
Wired reported that the TSA and the F.B.I. issued a bulletin
to airlines to be on the lookout for passengers showing signs they
may be trying to hack into an airplane’s Wi-Fi or inflight
entertainment system. Wired also reported that the U.S.
Government Accountability Office issued a report warning that
electronic systems on some planes may be vulnerable to hacking.
Interesting.
Peter Swire provides a summary of the history of
Section 215 and how we got to where we are right now in this
article on IAPP.
Local scofflaws. Sometimes government moves too
slow. (Okay, usually government moves too slow)
NUNN, Colo. — As
the sun peeks over the fields of organic grain in this grassy patch
of the state, some mornings, a dark dot appears in the sky as well,
and a loud buzz slices through the pastoral scene.
It is a drone,
and its pilot is a farmer named Jean Hediger, one of a growing number
of American agrarians who have taken to using unmanned aircraft —
better known for their use in war-torn lands far from the wheat
fields of eastern Colorado — to gather information about the health
of their crops.
In doing
so, these farmers are breaking the law. It is illegal to
fly drones
for commercial purposes without permission from federal authorities,
and those who do so risk penalties in the thousands of dollars. But
the technology holds such promise that many farmers are using it
anyway, dotting the country’s rural skies with whirring devices
saddled with tiny video cameras.
… “Our intent is pure,” she added.
“Without being able to fly drones
over our fields, they are
asking us to remain in the dark ages.”
Humor every week.
Hack
Education Weekly News
… “Bills that would decriminalize truancy
are moving through the Texas legislature, with the state House
recently passing HB 2632. The bill would eliminate criminal
penalties and institute fines for students who chronically skip
school,” reports
Politico.
… The Colorado Commission on Higher Education
says it will standardize how colleges in the state accept “prior
learning” for credit.
… Virginia’s community college system is
piloting an open textbook initiative, reports
Campus Technology. “VCCS plans to model its open textbook
initiative on Tidewater’s Z-Degree program. The pilot program will
run at 15 of Virginia’s community colleges and is expected to save
50,000 students more than $5 million dollars in the first year.”
… Via
The Atlantic: “Long-Range
Iris Scanning Is Here. An engineering professor at
Carnegie Mellon says he’s invented technology that can identify
someone from across the room with the precision of a fingerprint.”
What could possibly go wrong?
Very cool for my Android toting students.
Convergence?
How To Dual
Boot Your Android With Ubuntu
… We provided readers with the steps they need
to install
Ubuntu Touch on their Nexus handsets, but since 2013 additional
devices have been added to the list of supported tablets and phones.
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