Originally Posted by
phylosocopter
" I reckon not even the flight control software writer has a clue what’s under the bonnet. So how will a hacker get in? "
er hrmmmm precisely!
If you can gain bus access and tap/sniff the data stream, it wouldnt be difficult to figure out the various Flight control inputs due to the phase of flight, as each LRU has an address and typically,a data stream whose basic format is public knowledge via Wikipedia (ARINC 429). Typically, a couple of bits for the address, a couple of status bits, a couple of command bits including the likes of control deflection, followed by a parity bit.
Fortunately, I dont think anyone is advocating the Flight Control Bus being shared with the in flight entertainment. On the Boeing, I understand the system is completely federated.
This
link is an interesting read into the art of the possible and why its really important to have decent protections in place for anything accessing safety critical data buses. Once in, its not that hard to emulate a controller.v