New report reveals FAA Systems have been compromised more than one time in the past.
A report has been released revealing incidents where hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer. The system hacked into was used to gain access to personally identifiable information on FAA employees, such as Social Security numbers. The many hacking incidents happened over the course of a few years dating back to 2006.
The new report showed that it was just last year when hackers took control of FAA critical network servers risking a shut-down and disruption of the agency's mission-support network.
Other hacking incidents that took place, disclosed in today's report, says that 48,000 current and former FAA employee social security numbers may have been compromised during the hacking incident in February 2009. Hackers were able to take advantage of interconnected networks and steal administrator's passwords in Oklahoma and then install malicious codes with the stolen passwords to compromise the FAA domain controller.
The attacks, as stated in the report, have so far only primarily disrupted mission-support functions but warned that it could spread over network connections where real-time surveillance, communications and flight information is processed.
The report concluded: "In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations."
Do you think it is a national security issue when FAA systems are hacked or attacked by outsiders?