FAA computers hacked

[Guest guest]

Between this, the fact that powerplants and even generators can be hacked, that medical records for millions of patients in Virginia were likely just stolen, and the medical records online is a disaster in practice (Computers are often down meaning the doctors can do nothing), one would think that the powers that be would pull back from putting every last thing on the internet. Its these newer systems at the FAA and the medical services that are the ones getting hacked and that are so vulnerable.

Maybe the FAA should have looked at each airport tower and system having an independent intranet with no outside connections. That would increase local efficiency without compromising security. Powerplants should just go back to analog monitoring systems with actual people controlling the machines to adjust power. Sure this might mean a few second delay in reaction time, but what would be far superior to having a hacker get in and completely destroy the system and equipment.

http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10236028-83.html

Hackers have broken into the air traffic control mission-support systems of the U.S. Federal Aviation Administration several times in recent years, according to an Inspector General report sent to the FAA this week.

In February, hackers compromised an FAA public-facing computer and used it to gain access to personally identifiable information, such as Social Security numbers, on 48,000 current and former FAA employees, the report said.

Last year, hackers took control of FAA critical network servers and could have shut them down, which would have seriously disrupted the agency's mission-support network, the report said. Hackers took over FAA computers in Alaska, becoming "insiders," according to the report dated Monday.

Then, taking advantage of interconnected networks, hackers later stole an administrator's password in Oklahoma, installed "malicious codes" with the stolen password and compromised the FAA domain controller in the Western Pacific Region, giving them the access to more than 40,000 FAA user IDs, passwords, and other data used to control a portion of the mission-support network, the report said. A Good Credit Score is 700 or Above. See yours in just 2 easy steps!