Boeing 747

2020: Software update using floppy disks

On August 11, 2020, it became known that the software update in Boeing 747 aircraft is carried out in the old fashioned way - through 3.5-inch floppy disks. Pen Test Partners (PTP) specialists announced this at the Def Con 2020 hacker conference.

According to PTP employee Alex Lomax, as a rule, aircraft companies do not allow information security researchers on airliners for testing, but PTP experts managed to conduct penetration testing on board the decommissioned Boeing 747-400.

Boeing 747 aircraft are still updated with floppy disks

Lomax noted that the aircraft has a floppy drive used to install software updates, including downloading a navigation database.

This database should be updated every 28 days, so you can estimate how much routine work the engineer has to do every month, "Lomax emphasized.

According to Simple Flying, 3.5-inch floppy disks are used not only on board the Boeing 747. A large number of airlines are still using them to download and transfer data.

The main reason for using outdated technology is the difference in the development of aircraft and IT solutions. Aircraft manufacturers need a lot of time to certify and commission a new technological product on board.

During a speech at the conference, Alex Lomax was asked whether it was possible to hack the aircraft electronics through the on-board infotainment system. The expert replied that Pen Test Partners ­ could not find any two-way connection between the systems available to passengers and the management domain. Moreover, there is a special DMZ zone between these systems, which is hardly possible to bypass, the specialist added^[1]

1985:520 killed in Boeing 747 crash in Japan

A major aviation accident, occurred on August 12, 1985, became one of the largest in the world. The Boeing 747 airliner made a domestic flight on the Tokyo-Osaka route, but 12 minutes after takeoff it lost its vertical tail stabilizer. The crew kept the unmanaged aircraft in the air for 32 minutes, but it crashed into Mount Otsutaka, 112 kilometers from Tokyo. Of the 524 people on board, only 4 survived.

1977

Recreation hall of the Boeing-747 aircraft, 1970s.

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