Boeing must prove network hacker-free
SEATTLE (AP) - January 10, 2008 Boeing claims it has engineered safeguards to shut out
unauthorized users, but some security analysts worry navigation and
communications systems could be vulnerable.
"The odds of this being perfect are zero," said Bruce
Schneier, chief technology officer at the security services firm BT
Counterpane. "It's possible Boeing can make their connection to
the Internet secure. If they do, it will be the first time in
mankind anyone's done that."
But Boeing spokeswoman Lori Gunter said 787's aviation
electronics "are not connected in any way to the Internet."
Boeing has designed the 787 to allow airlines to offer
passengers more in-flight entertainment and Internet options than
previous planes have allowed.
Those new features and other aspects of 787's computer network
go beyond the scope of existing regulations, so the Federal
Aviation Administration is requiring Boeing to show the new
technology won't pose a safety threat.
In a "special condition" the FAA has ordered Boeing to
satisfy, the agency notes that the 787 "allows new kinds of
passenger connectivity to previously isolated data networks
connected to systems that perform functions required for the safe
operation of the airplane.
"Because of this new passenger connectivity, the proposed data
network design and integration may result in security
vulnerabilities from intentional or unintentional corruption of
data and systems critical to the safety and maintenance of the
airplane."
An FAA spokesman said the agency has been working closely with
Boeing and is pleased so far.
"We are always in constant communication and are satisfied with
what they have provided," FAA spokesman Allen Kenitzer said.
Boeing is set to deliver the first 787 by the end of the year.
Boeing's Gunter said there is "not any place where the
passenger interface to the Internet shares hardware" with the
plane's aviation electronics.
"There are multiple layers of hardware and software" that
ensure "data cannot pass from the passenger entrainment network to
the other more secure networks on the airplane," Gunter said.
Special conditions are a normal part of the regulatory process
aircraft makers undergo to get their planes certified for flight.
The FAA issues them any time new designs introduce safety concerns
that aren't fully addressed in existing regulations.
Boeing rival Airbus SAS argues that the only way to satisfy the
new requirement would be to physically separate the passenger
information and entertainment systems from all other systems on the
plane.
Airbus told the FAA in a written comment that such a solution
"is not technically and operationally viable."
Gunter declined to specify exactly how and to what degree the
787's computer networks are separated.
"One of the things you do to ensure security is not talk about
the protections in any great detail," she said.
Boeing has already completed all lab tests the FAA has ordered
for computer security, Gunter said. Final approval will come after
Boeing runs another set of tests during flight testing, which is
scheduled to begin in March.
The Air Line Pilots Association has urged the FAA to require a
backup system that would allow flight attendants to disable
passengers' Internet connections. The FAA declined, saying its job
is not to dictate specific designs, but Boeing said that capability
already exists.
Broadband passenger Internet access won't be available on the
first 787s Boeing delivers. Few airlines offer mile-high Web
access, but Gunter said Boeing wired the 787 for it because
in-flight Internet is an emerging technology Boeing expects a
growing number of airlines will adopt in the coming years.
The special condition on computer security, first proposed last
spring and published in final form last week, is one of several the
FAA has issued for the 787.
Others require Boeing to prove the 787 will be as safe during
crash landings or in-flight fires as aluminum planes, since it will
be the first large passenger plane made mostly of carbon-fiber
composites.
Boeing also has to show that the 787, which will be powered
almost entirely by high-voltage electric generators rather than air
sucked through the engines, will be able to fly and safely land if
its electrical power system fails.