The great Boeing Dreamliner false-positive hack of 2019

IOActive security researcher Ruben Santamarta dropped a bombshell at Black Hat 2019 that the Boeing Dreamliner is susceptible to hacking. Cause for concern or false alarm.

Ben Rothke

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Photo by Josh M on Unsplash

Introduction

It’s only August, and 2019 is undoubtedly a terrible year for Boeing. The problems with the 737 MAX are perhaps the biggest crisis the legendary firm has ever faced. Add to that several major airlines, including Etihad and KLM, have complained to Boeing about poor quality control in new deliveries of the 787–10 Dreamliner, and claim the airplanes were delivered well below acceptable standards. Also, just last week, Boeing pushed back the entry into service of an ultra-long-range version of its forthcoming 777X widebody.

As misery loves company, Boeing is again finding itself in the crosshairs of yet another crisis with the recently released report of serious software flaws within their flagship airplane — the 787 Dreamliner. On August 7, well-respected information security researcher Ruben Santamarta of IOActive released his report Arm IDA and Cross Check: Reversing the 787’s Core Network. The report details supposed software security flaws within some of the systems on the Boeing 787 Dreamliner.

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Ben Rothke
Ben Rothke

Written by Ben Rothke

I work in information security at Tapad. Write book reviews for the RSA blog, & a Founding member of the Cloud Security Alliance and Cybersecurity Canon.

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