Watchdog Urges More Action To Protect Planes From Hackers

The GAO report focused on the vulnerability of systems on planes that automatically transmit data to air traffic controllers, airline maintenance crews and others on the ground. Advanced networks carry data used to track planes, tell pilots about weather ahead, and handle secure communication between pilots and people on the ground.

The auditors said the ever-growing use of technology and increasingly complex systems have created “new opportunities for persons with malicious intentions to target commercial transport airplanes. They said, however, that aircraft manufacturers have built in safeguards, and there have been no reports of successful hacker attacks.