Cyber security guru Chris Roberts isn't going to be racking up frequent flyer miles as he's already pretty much banned from flying on one of the top U.S. international airlines.
The founder and CTO of One World Labs, a cyber security firm, was on a United Airlines jet this past Wednesday, bound for Syracuse, New York, when he sent an off-the-cuff tweet regarding the airline's network security.
The tweet he acknowledged later was borne from frustration notes how easy it is to tweak the airline's system to deploy oxygen masks out of the blue and how easy to take control of the plane's engines alert and crew.
Apparently United Airlines keeps a close eye on tweets. After Roberts left the plane he was met at the gate by FBI agents who spent four hours talking with him about his tweet. They also took all his computing and mobile devices.
United Airlines isn't satisfied that Roberts doesn't pose a threat as they wouldn't let him on a flight Saturday over the incident. He, ironically, was headed to speak at a top security conference.
"Given Mr. Roberts' claims regarding manipulating aircraft systems, we've decided it's in the best interest of our customers and crew members that he not be allowed to fly United. However, we are confident our flight control systems could not be accessed through techniques he described," says United Airlines spokesman Rahsaan Johnson.
The furor Roberts created this past week regarding airline network security didn't come out of the blue. He has been advocating for better airline cyber security for a long time.
Two weeks ago he made a statement that likely got everyone in the airline industry's attention and might have been the reason his tweet was picked up so fast.
"We can still take planes out of the sky thanks to the flaws in the in-flight entertainment systems," he said, adding "Quite simply put, we can theorize on how to turn the engines off at 35,000 feet and not have any of those damn flashing lights go off in the cockpit."
His take was actually validated by a General Accounting Office report issued the day before Roberts sent his attention-grabbing tweet. The GAO report states it is still possible for on-board hackers to bring down a plane.
Roberts is now being represented by attorneys from the Electronic Frontier Foundation, and the group said United Airlines' decision to ban Roberts is "disappointing and confusing."
