<http://australianit.news.com.au/common/print/0,7208,19375464%5E15331%5E%5En bv%5E15306%2D15318,00.html> http://australianit.news.com.au/common/print/0,7208,19375464%5E15331%5E%5Enb v%5E15306%2D15318,00.html Flaw may lead to air chaos Steve Creedy JUNE 06, 2006 HACKERS armed with little more than a laptop could conjure up phantom planes on the screens of Australia's air traffic controllers using new radar technology, warns Dick Smith. The prominent businessman and aviator claims to have found another serious security flaw in the new software being introduced into the air traffic control system. He has challenged Transport Minister Warren Truss to allow him to set up a demonstration of the problem at a test of the technology in Queensland to show how hackers could exploit the automatic dependent surveillance broadcasting (ASD-B) system to create false readings on an air traffic controller's screen. The air space activist says he was told of the flaw by US Federal Aviation Administration staff. "FAA officials have become aware that an electronics boffin, using a second-hand or 'borrowed' transponder from a small (general aviation) aircraft connected to a $5 data lead, a $5 aerial and a laptop computer, can create 10, 20 or even 50 false aircraft on an air traffic controller's screen," he says in a letter to Mr Truss. "This will create total chaos in the air traffic control system." Australia is at the forefront of ASD-B, which uses the global positioning system and aircraft avionics to automatically broadcast information about a plane's position, speed and direction. Authorities are poised to introduce the system for high-level airspace but are yet to make a decision on whether to use it at lower altitudes. The US is also rolling out ASD-B and the technology has been enthusiastically endorsed by senior executives in the administration and the airline industry. But Mr Smith, who is campaigning against the moves and has raised safety and security worries about the design, said the system had no way of verifying whether a plane was where it claimed to be or existed at all. He said the FAA was looking at ways of encrypting signals or setting up multiple ground stations at each location to allow the controllers to determine whether a signal came from a moving aircraft. This would significantly increase the cost of ADS-B. A spokeswoman for Mr Truss said yesterday the minister had received a lot of correspondence from Mr Smith on ADS-B. "This recent letter is being considered and we will be writing back formally to him," she said. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed] ------------------------ Yahoo! Groups Sponsor --------------------~--> Protect your PC from spy ware with award winning anti spy technology. It's free. http://us.click.yahoo.com/97bhrC/LGxNAA/yQLSAA/TySplB/TM --------------------------------------------------------------------~-> -------------------------- Want to discuss this topic? Head on over to our discussion list, [EMAIL PROTECTED] -------------------------- Brooks Isoldi, editor [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.intellnet.org Post message: [email protected] Subscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Unsubscribe: [EMAIL PROTECTED] *** FAIR USE NOTICE. This message contains copyrighted material whose use has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. OSINT, as a part of The Intelligence Network, is making it available without profit to OSINT YahooGroups members who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information in their efforts to advance the understanding of intelligence and law enforcement organizations, their activities, methods, techniques, human rights, civil liberties, social justice and other intelligence related issues, for non-profit research and educational purposes only. We believe that this constitutes a 'fair use' of the copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the U.S. Copyright Law. If you wish to use this copyrighted material for purposes of your own that go beyond 'fair use,' you must obtain permission from the copyright owner. For more information go to: http://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/17/107.shtml Yahoo! Groups Links <*> To visit your group on the web, go to: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/osint/ <*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to: [EMAIL PROTECTED] <*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to: http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
