The Latest in IT Security

Everyone loves in-flight Wi-Fi… until it allows a hacker to infiltrate the plane’s satellite communications equipment. CBCNews brings us word that security researcher Ruben Santamarta of IOActive is going to present new findings at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas this week showing how to use a plane’s Wi-Fi and even its in-flight entertainment system to hack into its satellite equipment. “These devices are wide open,” Santamarta said in a recent interview. “The goal of this talk is to help change that situation.” One of the biggest vulnerabilities that Santamarta found relates to satellite equipment manufacturers’ system of hardcoded that they designed to let engineers access multiple different pieces of equipment with just one login name and password. Santamarta found that