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Cybersecurity Expert Questions Existence of Embedded Camera On SIA's Inflight Entertainment Systems (yahoo.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the privacy-concerns dept.

Vitaly Kamluk, an information security expert and a high-ranking executive of cybersecurity company Kaspersky Lab, went on Twitter with concerns about an embedded camera in Singapore Airlines' (SIA) inflight entertainment systems. He tagged SIA in his post on Sunday, asking the airline to clarify how the camera is being used. Yahoo News reports: SIA quickly allayed his fears of unwanted surveillance by assuring Kamluk that the cameras have been disabled, with no plans to use them in the future. Not all of their devices sport the camera, though -- SIA explained that only some of its newer inflight entertainment systems come with cameras embedded in the hardware. In another tweet, SIA affirmed that the cameras were already built in by the original equipment manufacturers in newer inflight entertainment systems. Kamluk recommended that it's best to disable the cameras physically -- with stickers, for example -- to provide better peace of mind. In 2017, entertainment device developer Panasonic Avionics said it was studying how eye tracking can be used for a better passenger experience. As the report mentions, "Cameras can be used for identity recognition on planes, which in turn, would allow for in-flight biometric payment (much like Face ID on Apple devices) and personalized services."

42 of 81 comments (clear)

  1. Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by ffkom · · Score: 2

    If they are known to exist and "disabled", the most easy thing is to put an adhesive sticker on their lens.

    1. Re: Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Guys! We got the president himself posting here!

    2. Re:Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      Until somebody comes by and tells you the aircraft is not safe to fly with your sticker on. Then you get arrested for disobeying aircrew instructions. Good plan there.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    3. Re:Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by wierd_w · · Score: 1

      Then you switch to non-metallic, non-conductive, non-toxic, non-flammable opaque marker.

    4. Re:Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by DNS-and-BIND · · Score: 1

      It means the airline company will come up with a bullshit regulation that the aircraft isn't safe to fly until all the cameras have a clear view of the passengers. Lawyers love creating such things.

      --
      Shutting down free speech with violence isn't fighting fascism. It IS fascism!
    5. Re:Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      I wonder if there is also a microphone. My first thought would be to use it as a webcam, which would mean wanting a mic as well.

      Eventually companies are going to realize that people find it creepy to have a camera pointed at them. Laptop manufacturers are starting to get it, and include a physical sliding cover (although never anything for the microphones).

      Actually microphones are in some ways worse than the camera. With the camera there is usually a light that indicates when it is in use, controlled by the camera firmware so it's pretty much impossible for malware to disable, but the microphone is always on and always feeding in to the audio codec.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    6. Re:Nothing a simple sticker could not solve by Locke2005 · · Score: 1

      The touchscreen Google Home devices have brought back the door over the camera, unlike the Alexa devices. Now if only there was some way of proving the microphone was effectively disabled...

      --
      I've abandoned my search for truth; now I'm just looking for some useful delusions.
  2. Video chat from $5 min now on sias air! by Joe_Dragon · · Score: 1

    Video chat from $5 min now on sias air!

    1. Re:Video chat from $5 min now on sias air! by jrumney · · Score: 1

      Video chat from $5 min now on sias air!

      Present your face within 10 inches of the screen to accept. If you don't want to accept, then upgrade to a seat where you can move your face further away for the special price of S$2000 per hour of flight.

  3. It's a privacy concern by Krishnoid · · Score: 1

    I mean, if they can tell that you're on the plane in your assigned seat ... I got nothing.

    1. Re:It's a privacy concern by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      But what about the Freeze Peach?!

      It gonna solve the puzzle. It was RICO. In the repository. With the Logan Act.

    2. Re:It's a privacy concern by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      Face match passport application at embassy, at airport, after security, in aircraft?

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    3. Re: It's a privacy concern by astrofurter · · Score: 4, Insightful

      So much surveillance, so little benefit.

      It's still unsafe to walk down many streets at night. The rich are still above the Law. American workers wages are still depressed by an army of (fully lawful) imported guest worker scabs. The real economy is still in a state of near collapse. The 2nd, 4th, 6th, 8th, and 9th Amendments are still de facto repealed.

      But Big Brother is always watching. Don't worry, because Big Brother loves us all.

    4. Re: It's a privacy concern by tofus · · Score: 1

      I was waiting for an "...and the Earth is still flat", but luckily you stopped at Big Brother.

    5. Re: It's a privacy concern by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      Pray tell, what do flat Earth trolls have to do with cybernetic totalitarianism?

    6. Re: It's a privacy concern by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      CCTV doesn't do much to reduce crime. At best it displaces it.

      Random anecdote. A friend bought a 4 channel dashcam system for his car. Covers the front, back and both sides, and works while parked. He was fed up of people hitting his car with their doors in car parks. Eventually he caught someone scratching his paintwork. Of course they had already driven off so he had to get their details from their insurance and put in a claim that way.

      Problem is his own insurance premium then went up as the result of having made a claim. He's now trying to get the third party's insurance to cover his increased premium too.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    7. Re: It's a privacy concern by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      CCTV works as people still expect to do crime in the areas of the city they know and understand.
      Once police are politically allowed to stop crime they can get crime numbers down.
      The "reduce crime" is a real thing as the criminals are in prison for decades due to the math of consecutive sentences.
      Same with matching passport images to embassy applications to people entering and then leaving a nation.
      Now the trick is to watch them on the flight in and out too :)

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
    8. Re: It's a privacy concern by CohibaVancouver · · Score: 1

      It's still unsafe to walk down many streets at night.

      Only in American cities, and places like Buenos Aires.

      Unlike the USA, other western nations have said being able to walk down the street safely at night is important and they've created environments where that's possible.

    9. Re: It's a privacy concern by astrofurter · · Score: 1

      My brother - you know those streets I mentioned, where it's unsafe to walk at night? They're positively bristling with surveillance cameras. Mass surveillance does NOTHING to protect ordinary citizens.

    10. Re: It's a privacy concern by AHuxley · · Score: 1

      When law enforcement is held back, thats down to the politics of a city, state.

      --
      Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  4. Wait, what? by msauve · · Score: 1

    Sia has her own inflight entertainment channel? With a camera, so she can watch you while you're watching her? I didn't know they had that on planes. (not that there's anything wrong with that)

    --
    "National Security is the chief cause of national insecurity." - Celine's First Law
  5. Yeah Right by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 1

    The camera is never disabled, neither is the microphone, neither is the wireless transceiver. If it exists it's recording and if it's not provable recording at a given moment it's an unrequested update away from being switched on.

    1. Re:Yeah Right by gl4ss · · Score: 4, Interesting

      I love how people are just ignoring the obvious reason for it - video calling.

      they just want to charge , but didn't actually finish building the system and nobody would use it anyways for their prices.. much like "free wifi" on flights for 10 megs of data or whatever.

      charging for calls and all that was always a wet dream for the airlines. problem is nobody wants to pay for it and the systems outdate themselves before they're even in use. like for video calls they would need to choose what app to use nowadays.

      on many flights you can call or instant message another seat. another feature nobody uses ever.

      my favorite useless feature was usb slot for viewing photos and pdf files on the crap screen. why no movies? because it was outdated already and they want you to view their inflight library, which they give you free anyways. but let's be honest who in their right mind would prepare to read pdf files off an usb stick on a plane? friggin nobody thats who.

      this one flight had a smartphone looking wired remote for the inflight system. also totally useless and unly useful because the ui for skipping forward in a movie in the actual device was so goddamn laggy..

      --
      world was created 5 seconds before this post as it is.
    2. Re:Yeah Right by AmiMoJo · · Score: 1

      USB port that can charge at more than 2.5W would be nice. Bring your own movies on a phone/tablet. AC socket is even better.

      The on-board media libraries seem to vary a lot, but are always kinda small. You get 3 episodes of some TV series in over-compressed 480p. Maybe aviation rated hard drives are really expensive or something.

      --
      const int one = 65536; (Silvermoon, Texture.cs)
      SJW, n: "Someone I don't like, and by the way I'm a fuckwit" - AC
    3. Re:Yeah Right by NicknameUnavailable · · Score: 2

      I love how people are just ignoring the obvious reason for it - video calling.

      Bullshit.

    4. Re:Yeah Right by khchung · · Score: 1

      I love how people are just ignoring the obvious reason for it - video calling.

      People don't buy that excuse because it did not pass the sniff test.

      A sensible location for the video calling camera would be on the handset dock and covered when the headset is docked, visible only when you take out the handset to make calls.

      Another sensible setup for video call would be a physical cover for the camera such as a sliding door, so you can cover it to receive a video call even when you happened to be in a not-so-presentable state (putting on make up, just woke up bleary eyed, etc).

      Putting the camera below the screen without any cover so it can see you all the time only made sense if the use cases include monitoring the passenger for the entire flight.

      --
      Oliver.
  6. All this (paid) infotainment on airplanes by thrillseeker · · Score: 1

    and all we've been wanting for years is bigger seats, free wifi, and beer.

    1. Re:All this (paid) infotainment on airplanes by Aighearach · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure beer is wise, but if they'd sell the people next to me some pot brownies so they can sleep it would really help.

    2. Re:All this (paid) infotainment on airplanes by mentil · · Score: 1

      I'm not sure I'd want to spend a long plane ride next to two Cheech & Chong wannabes. OTOH if I were riding next to Robin Williams, please get the man some cocaine! RIP

      --
      Corruption is convincing someone that the selfless ideal is the same as their selfish ideal.
  7. Cameras by bagofbeans · · Score: 2

    Just because the airline isn't using the cameras, that doesn't mean that the inflight entertainment system supplier isn't logging activities, and then grabbing the logs when possible.

    So the big question is, does the inflight entertainment system supplier have telemetry or other access to their system after fitment?

    1. Re:Cameras by Narcocide · · Score: 1

      Or you know, just even rogue airline employees with a grudge and a boot disk.

  8. new slogan by astrofurter · · Score: 1

    SIA's new slogan:

    "Singapore Airlines - fly the dystopian police state skies!"

  9. Squawk codes with extra secret? by AHuxley · · Score: 1

    Squawk 7500 and bandwidth goes to camera's?

    --
    Domestic spying is now "Benign Information Gathering"
  10. Like Apple ID by misnohmer · · Score: 1

    Do they claim they have multiple cameras now to support IR and 3D face based payment system? Or is it "like a cheap knock-off of Apple" which can be fooled with a smartphone photo?

  11. Component re-use by Going_Digital · · Score: 1

    Almost certain that this will be a screen with a camera that is used for some other system that is being re-purposed as a flight entertainment system. The camera is probably not used and the airline probably had no idea it was even there. It is a standard procedure to use off-the-shelf components that are already available instead of going to the expense of producing your own spec. The best reaction from the airline would be to tell people the camera is not used and simply apply a label with the airline brand over the camera so there is no doubt about it.

    1. Re:Component re-use by Local+ID10T · · Score: 1

      Hush you! Stop with that honesty and thoughtfulness!

      This is about OUTRAGE and INVASION OF PRIVACY... and other whiny bullshit.

      --
      "You want to know how to help your kids? Leave them the fuck alone." -George Carlin
  12. Great plan! by sjbe · · Score: 2

    If they are known to exist and "disabled", the most easy thing is to put an adhesive sticker on their lens.

    Is that all? Now I just have to start carrying stickers on every flight and intentionally disabling a part of the aircraft every time I board. That sounds like a great plan! Not inconvenient or burdensome at all. I'm sure the airlines will be thrilled about people putting stickers all over their airplane that they then need to clean off.

    (yes that was sarcasm for the Sheldon Cooper clones reading this)

  13. Hard to believe they won't be used ... by fygment · · Score: 1

    The reasons and assurances by the companies seem hollow. A natural temptation for any organization would be monitoring of passengers for both marketing and security reasons. On the other hand surely there are more subtle ways to monitor passenger activity so maybe it is as they say.

    --
    "Consensus" in science is _always_ a political construct.
  14. The reason we ignore it by aepervius · · Score: 4, Insightful

    is because the market for video calling is nearly nill, whereas the airline simply buy component in bulk. As long as the component are within spec there is no need to requalify them (air worthyness can be a lengthy process), so it does not surprise me they got component with camera for which they simply do not use the camera, it is far cheaper than ordering the same component without camera.

    --
    C. Sagan : A demon haunted world:
    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/0345409469/
    visit randi.org
  15. Thank you by Shotgun · · Score: 2

    Thank you for the article.

    Now we all know what to do with our used chewing gum.

    --
    Aah, change is good. -- Rafiki
    Yeah, but it ain't easy. -- Simba
  16. Rogue by Impy+the+Impiuos+Imp · · Score: 1

    As a standard, all cameras should have an LED on them that is lighted when the camera is powered, and that cannot be turned off by software (even by rogue EEPROM load).

    If it irritates you, put tape on it, or a little flip cap, or a dimming cap.

    This is the only way.

    --
    (-1: Post disagrees with my already-settled worldview) is not a valid mod option.
  17. Proof positive that msmash is illiterate by Qwaniton · · Score: 1

    Here we are: proof positive that msmash is illiterate. Imagine CmdrTaco replying to a comment with something this incoherent. Shame how far this site has fallen.