Can you really hack an airplane? (myths & truths)

A talk from EMF 2016 by Grigorios Fragkos

On Saturday August 6, 2016 at in Stage A

A lot of noise, extensive discussions and many articles have been written lately due to the recent, so claimed, airplane hacks. It is indeed very difficult, up to impossible, to find information about the actual security of an airplane's systems if you are not actually the person responsible for designing and building such systems. Of course, it is understandable that these details regarding these systems will never become available to the general public for security reasons.

Due to my background in security, I always looked at the airplanes from a different perspective and after reading so many articles online I decided to share with you what I have come across after all these years. Personally, I am an airplane enthusiast and I have been studying and learning about airplanes all my life, mostly as a hobby. I started with the best flight simulators I could get my hands on, sat down with many real pilots to learn all the technical details and I have a few flight hours in a real simulator of a Boeing 737-800.

The purpose of the talk is to present you with small truths and facts about airplanes I managed to gather over the years. The facts I am going to present you with will help you better understand if what you reading about airplanes' security is actually true or a misleading story based on fictional facts and assumptions.

The presentation will allow you to draw your own conclusions about the security of airplanes' avionics and in-flight systems while looking a bit closer to the so called in-flight entertainment systems.

Fasten your seat belts and join me to an interesting presentation that will take you away to a fantastic trip.