The Federal Aviation Administration is in the midst of a multibillion-dollar upgrade of the nation's air traffic control system. The new system is called the Next Generation Air Transportation System, or NextGen. It will be highly automated. It will rely on GPS instead of radar to locate planes, and it is designed to allow air traffic controllers and pilots to pack more planes, helicopters and eventually drones into our skies. But a number of computer security experts are concerned that the… (www.npr.org) More...
It is not a metter of if it can be hacked, but when & how it'll be interfered with.
GPS signals are subject to interference, put that together with some spoofed ghost planes and both Pilots and controllers would be pretty overwhelmed by all the alerts & conflicting navigational signals.
As primary radar is reduced, this would be a great way to raise attention while sneaking one aircraft unnoticed 'under the radar'..
An NPR story brought some disturbing information to light about the potential for hacking the new, high-tech NextGen air traffic management system the FAA is developing.
