In-flight WiFi = major security risk?

Alexander Turcic · 07-14-2005, 04:57 PM

It seems that the Department of Homeland Security found a new potential source of terrorist activities: airborne broadband Internet, which is slowly emerging thanks to Boeing's Connexion service. Wired writes: Federal law enforcement officials, fearful that terrorists will exploit emerging in-flight broadband services to remotely activate bombs or coordinate hijackings, are asking regulators for the power to begin eavesdropping on any passenger's internet use within 10 minutes of obtaining court authorization.

Of course modern terrorists are either afraid of crypto or simply don't know how to secure their Internet connections.

lindseydyson · 07-15-2005, 04:46 AM

I was lookingt forward to WiFi on my travels and I hope this theory does not put a stop to it. Just awaiting British Airways to pick up on it.

Lindsey Dyson
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Personal Assistant to Sammual McLoughlin
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Alexander Turcic · 07-15-2005, 05:35 AM

I don't think the US government would want to stop in-flight WiFi, simply because it would hurt Boeing (who put a lot of money into its Connexion program) and Boeing is one of the government's darlings.

But what could happen is that feds will log all traffic connections. Not that this seems very useful to me, since, as I mentioned with some sarcasm, it wouldn't stop people from using secure Internet connections (e.g. through a SSH2 tunnel) which seem very unlikely to be sniffed.

07-14-2005, 04:57 PM	#1
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	In-flight WiFi = major security risk? It seems that the Department of Homeland Security found a new potential source of terrorist activities: airborne broadband Internet, which is slowly emerging thanks to Boeing's Connexion service. Wired writes: Federal law enforcement officials, fearful that terrorists will exploit emerging in-flight broadband services to remotely activate bombs or coordinate hijackings, are asking regulators for the power to begin eavesdropping on any passenger's internet use within 10 minutes of obtaining court authorization. Of course modern terrorists are either afraid of crypto or simply don't know how to secure their Internet connections.

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07-15-2005, 04:46 AM	#2
lindseydyson Deputy Editor Palm Addict Posts: 17 Karma: 169 Join Date: Jun 2005 Device: Palm Addict	I was lookingt forward to WiFi on my travels and I hope this theory does not put a stop to it. Just awaiting British Airways to pick up on it. Lindsey Dyson Deputy Editor PalmAddict Personal Assistant to Sammual McLoughlin Welcoming over 40,000 visitors a day to Palm Addict

07-15-2005, 05:35 AM	#3
Alexander Turcic Fully Converged Posts: 18,175 Karma: 14021202 Join Date: Oct 2002 Location: Switzerland Device: Too many to count here.	I don't think the US government would want to stop in-flight WiFi, simply because it would hurt Boeing (who put a lot of money into its Connexion program) and Boeing is one of the government's darlings. But what could happen is that feds will log all traffic connections. Not that this seems very useful to me, since, as I mentioned with some sarcasm, it wouldn't stop people from using secure Internet connections (e.g. through a SSH2 tunnel) which seem very unlikely to be sniffed.

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