What if MH370 was hacked

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=7418652

by saltcookie • 12 years ago

3 3 12 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

How probable do u think that the plane was, hacked like malicious code that took over. Just wanting to know ur views about it

omegant2• 12 years ago

Then the pilots would have take over manual controls. Current autopilots are quite dumb and just follow sequential programs point to point. No way to hack a plane for hours, even if the pilots displays fake information, you´ll have control asking you where are you going.

It´s not possible yet, at least not how you would hack a personal computer.

saltcookie• 12 years ago

I think the planes have some thing called as fly by wire, which runs a embedded linux os, which basically takes force control from the pilot if it detects anything unusual. This thing could be hacked if one has the right knowledge to do it.

omegant2• 12 years ago

Fly by wire is controlled by a computer, but the autopilot is controlled by another one and the FMC is another different one. All of the can only be loaded with new software locally via cable, and they are very limited computers, most of them are microcontrollers running custom software and when an OS is required they use a custom one that´s real time. (http://archive.adaic.com/projects/atwork/boeing.html).

It´s possible to create a custom software and charge it to the airplane? very difficult but possible. It´s possible to take over the control and fly it where you want to, without the pilots having a chance? no.

Maybe in the next generation airplanes once more complex computers are used.

The most probable outcome is that the computer you have hacked will stop communicating with other systems or it´s own sensors and will crash (the computer not the airplane).

What if MH370 was hacked

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