![CarmeloWalsh[.]com](https://www.carmelowalsh.com/wp-content/themes/twentyten/images/headers/sunset.jpg)
Chris Roberts tweeted what appeared to be a joke about “playing” with a United Airlines plane’s in-flight entertainment and crew-alerting system on April 15. Once he landed, he was questioned by the FBI for several hours. Some of his computer equipment was seized, and he was prevented from boarding another United flight.
After a search warrant was obtained, the FBI alleges Roberts told them he had taken control of the aircraft. He stated that he thereby caused one of the airplane engines to climb resulting in a lateral or sideways movement of the plane during one of these flights, He also stated that he used Vortex software after comprising/exploiting or ‘hacking’ the airplane’s networks. He used the software to monitor traffic from the cockpit system.
Chris Roberts is enjoying his fame, subject to a few memes on the Internet.
Apparently, this cartoon below is from several years ago… Very prophetic!
As for United Airlines, they say they will offer air miles as part of its new bug bounty program, but there are restrictions. Problems that affect onboard Wi-Fi, entertainment systems and avionics are off-limits.
