App Developer Is A Certified Commercial Pilot

The FAA says that the app developed by European researcher Hugo Teso which he claimed could be used to take over navigation systems in commercial airliners would not work on avionics certified for flight. Teso admitted at the 'Hack in a Box' conference in Amsterdam that it had only been tested on a simulator.

"The FAA has determined that the hacking technique described during a recent computer security conference does not pose a flight safety concern because it does not work on certified flight hardware," the agency said in a statement released to the media.

The IDG news service reports that Teso, who works for the company N.Runs in Germany, holds a certificate to fly commercial aircraft. While he demonstrated the ability to send false information to cockpit displays in a simulated environment, he said that it has not been tested under real-life conditions.

The FAA dismissed Teso's claim that he could control a plane's autopilot using his Samsung Galaxy smartphone. "The described technique cannot engage or control the aircraft's autopilot system using the FMS or prevent a pilot from overriding the autopilot," the agency stated. "Therefore, a hacker cannot obtain 'full control of an aircraft' as the technology consultant has claimed."

EASA backs up the FAA's assessment of the claim.

FMI: www.faa.gov