US Air Traffic Control System Is Riddled With Vulnerabilities

An anonymous reader writes: A recently released report (PDF) by the U.S. Government Accountability Office has revealed that despite some improvements, the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) still needs to quash significant security control weaknesses that threaten the agency's ability to ensure the safe and uninterrupted operation of the national airspace system (NAS). The report found that while the "FAA established policies and procedures for controlling access to NAS systems and for configuring its systems securely, and it implemented firewalls and other boundary protection controls to protect the operational NAS environment [...] a significant number of weaknesses remain in the technical controls—including access controls, change controls, and patch management—that protect the confidentiality, integrity, and availability of its air traffic control systems."

Comments

Re:Ya Think?

[digsbo]

The FAA is one of a very few government agencies that takes its job seriously and focuses on quality. Honestly I hate government, but the FAA has been effective in promoting safety from the mechanical/traffic perspective. I'd trust them to take IT systems security seriously and delegate the work to competent engineers. Almost can't believe I'm saying this, but it would seem they have good workers.

Re:Ya Think?

[sabri]

Getting everyone on the ground safely is the pilots' job. Keeping planes in the air safely is ATC's job.

Nope. Once an aircraft is moving on the ground under its own power, the flight has started and the pilot in command has the ultimate responsibility and authority over the safety of the flight. A pilot in command can deviate from any rule, clearance or law to the extent necessary to ensure the safety of the flight.