Delta investigating after someone set up fake Wi-Fi network mid-flight

In Brief

An unidentified rider allegedly created a fake Wi-Fi web connected a Delta formation from Las Vegas to Atlanta connected Monday, prompting pilots to alert aerial postulation control, according to the hose and nationalist broadcasts from the plane.

“[The] information of formation was ne'er successful question and nary craft operating systems were affected,” Delta spokesperson Morgan Durrant told TechCrunch, adding that the in-flight web was not compromised.

“We are afloat investigating to stitchery a implicit acceptable of facts, which volition instrumentality time. We volition spouse with national instrumentality enforcement and aviation regulators to guarantee the incidental is thoroughly investigated,” the spokesperson said.

The formation unit turned disconnected the aircraft’s morganatic Wi-Fi web for astir 30 minutes owed to the incident.

Once the unit became alert of the fake Wi-Fi network, the pilots sent two messages mid-flight to aerial postulation control. The pilots said a rider “created a scam Wi-Fi” that was designed to impersonate the airplane’s morganatic wireless network.

The pilots said they did not person immoderate much information, but said immoderate of the passengers came from cybersecurity conferences held successful Las Vegas past week.

At this point, it’s unclear what the rider oregon passengers were doing. It’s casual to acceptable up a fake oregon malicious Wi-Fi web utilizing commercially disposable tools similar a Wi-Fi Pineapple, a hardware instrumentality designed for spoofing real-world networks. These devices are sold for nonrecreational information testers to audit companies’ security, oregon for hobbyists who privation to larn however to hack. 

The Atlanta Police Department referred questions to national authorities. Federal Aviation Administration spokesperson Steve Kulm said the bureau has not received a study astir the incident. The FBI did not instantly respond to TechCrunch’s petition for comment.

Subscribe for the industry’s biggest tech news