Senator Chuck Schumer issued a dire warning about the vulnerability of America’s flight infrastructure and demanded “immediate action.”
“If the Sony hacking was bad, imagine how much worse the hacking of the FAA computer system could be with thousands of planes in the air,” Schumer said Sunday at a press conference.
“Sophisticated terrorists could even steer planes into one another. The threat of a cybercriminal taking over this system makes your stomach sink,” he added.
A report released last week from the Government Accountability Office made 17 recommendations and 168 “specific actions” the agency needed to take to protect itself.
The report found that the main vulnerabilities stem from a need to encrypt sensitive data, beef up firewall security and test the servers.
“Cost is not the issue here, the issue is sophistication,” Schumer said.
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