Unintended Consequences: The Boeing 787 Dreamliner

There's good news, and bad news, about the Boeing 787 Dreamliner. And, it's the same news:

• Good news: The Dreamliner's control system is so sophisticated and so integrated that passengers can plug in their laptops and connect to the world
• Bad news: The Dreamliner's control system could be hacked

According to The Times (UK): "The technology used by the new generation of aircraft is now so advanced that aviation officials fear that terrorists could use it to fly the plane."

The FAA says it won't certify Boeing's Dreamliner until data connections in the cabin don't allow someone with a laptop to hack into the airliner's control system. A ZDNet blog (cited below) brings up a very good question: How did Boeing, six years after the 9/11 attack, let the Dreamliner get this close to rollout with a potentially-lethal glitch?

There's a slightly technical discussion of the Boeing 787 control system issue at "Boeing 787 at risk of in-flight hacking" ZDNet, January 5, 2008.