Emirates rejects inflight hacking claim

DUBAI // Emirates has denied a security consultant’s claims that the inflight entertainment system used by 13 major airlines could be hacked, thus compromising passenger safety.

Ruben Santamarta, principal security consultant at IOActive, told The Telegraph newspaper that a security flaw in the Panasonic Avionics inflight system could place passenger information and safety at risk, and disrupt their flight experience.

The system is used by Emirates, Etihad Airways, Qatar Airways and 10 other airlines.

Mr Santamarta managed to hijack inflight displays to change information such as altitude and location, control the cabin lighting and hack into the announcements system, according to The Telegraph.

“Chained together, this could be an unsettling experience for passengers,” Mr Santamarta said.

The newspaper reported that Mr Santamarta was also able to exploit the flaw to access the credit card details of frequent fliers stored in the automatic payment system.

The vulnerability could potentially be used to access the aircraft’s controls, Mr Santamarta said.

Emirates confirmed that its aircraft were equipped with the Panasonic Avionics inflight system, but “there is no risk to the safety of our aircraft”, a spokesperson said. “Matters of aviation cybersecurity are of utmost importance to Emirates and we continuously work with Panasonic on robust assessments to update our inflight entertainment systems and have measures in place to resolve any issues.”