I don't care what was leaked but what worries me is that hackers got into secure computers and even mastercard system! With all these I don't think anyone could assure me that onboard use of cell phones, electronics, etc are safe. With gogoinflight very soon someone would hack into the flight system (I don't know how isolated are the onboard computers-I assume that they are pretty isolated as I have seen technicians have to physically get into the plane to make adjustments) or any ground/remote control operations.
I personally feel that 90% of cell phone users in the plane call someone to do business that could easily wait until they are in the terminal building or outside.
Normal people complain while criminals benefit from their complaints.

Internet systems on flights are completely separate from cockpit control systems. There is absolutely no way the two could interact with each other.

Didn't the 787 have to have mods when it was realised the IFE was using the same circuitry as the avionics and hence was theoretically hackable

As for Wikileaks, the problem there was that 2 million people in the US had direct & uncontrolled access to the data - and one of them took a copy of it then sent it to Wikileaks, nothing to do with hacking

Yeah, there was no real hacking. It was insiders who were authorized to access these documents that provided them. As said, the issue was lax controls over who had access and logging of that access.

The actual avionics on a jet are totally separate from the passenger entertainment/internet systems. They run their own custom operating systems, not Windows.

About the only thing I could even brainstorm/fantasize about that would be great for an implausible, far-fetched Hollywood script would be to somehow hack into and send false text messages to the flight deck messaging systems (CPDLC, etc). But then voice communication could simply validate that.

Oh wait, I know. Hack into the system and send incorrect gate info for connecting passengers! Or maybe it would actually be correct if this were to occur?

Right - wasn't the "Collateral Murder" video of helicopter pilots attacking journalists and civilians stolen by disguising it as Lady Gaga music or something? Maybe that was just hyperbole, I haven't followed the story of that now-screwed intelligence analyst kid lately.

The fun would begin if you started leaving infected USB sticks around places where the people responsible for updating and maintaining the systems live and work. Infect their PCs with viruses that look for an attached flight system. Then, subtly change that flight system.

It worked against Iran.

That said, taking down an Iranian nuclear facility actually requires hard work and creativity. If you want to bring down a plane, just stuff explosives up your rear and hide a detonation system in reasonably complex electronics. Unite the explosives once you're airside and keep them in your carry-on. Either detonate while in the air, or secret them somewhere and let them explode once you're off.

�Hackers� didn�t get into any secure systems�including Mastercard. It�s a distributed denial of service attack by, from what I can tell, protestors unaffiliated with Wikileaks. They didn�t hack into Mastercard, they just took down their public website, which isn�t connected to their payment processing systems if they�ve got any decent security professionals.

All they did, essentially, is have their web browsers reload mastercard.com over and over again...

As this thread most centrally and literally concerns the technology of travel, please follow in the Travel Technology forum. Ocn Vw 1K, Moderator, TravelBuzz.

I would think the two systems are isolated.

Buy a SAM, stand on approach or take off, press trigger

uh, what? Where did hackers get into any secure computers, or mastercard? not to mention the fact that gogoinflight has nothing to do with the flight system.

Exactly. Big deal. For the OP to imply they got into Mastercard's "system" is complete and utterly false and incorrect.

I want to be careful here as I don't want to call you anything nasty - but I think your paranoia is in overdrive.

Nobody hacked any secure Mastercard systems, some folks simply flooded the site with so much traffic that it went down. This was something anyone could participate in.

Gogo Inflight is completely separate from the avionics - nothing anyone does on the ground could ever impact the plane. Do you really think the FAA would allow an Internet connection that could potentially down a plane?

I recommend taking a deep breath, relaxing, and not worrying too much about any of this. There are no hackers out there planning to hack a plane and nobody hacked Mastercard.

Didn't hackers get into British scientists' computers to get e-mails regarding global warming that were posted in Wikileaks site? So Wikileake has nothing to do with "hacked" information? I assume that anyone who gave the information to Wikeleake got into some website by illegal means and obtained the information. I am quite sure that Wikileake pays for the information, perhaps enough to tempt someone to hack into unauthorized computers.