RE: Lights' malfunction at airport attributed to computer glitch

[InfoSec News <isn () c4i org>]

Forwarded from: Chris Wysopal <cwysopal () atstake com>

Runway lights are frequently controlled by data lines connected to a
loop carrier system.  They have been disabled by unauthorized use of
the phone system in the past. In March 1997 a teenager hacking a phone
switch that was used by Worcester Airport unwittingly cut off the
airport from the phone system.  This outage cut off the tower from the
main radio transmitter and disabled the controls to the runway lights.

More info here: 
http://www.usdoj.gov/criminal/cybercrime/juvenilepld.htm

-Chris


> Forwarded from: William Knowles <wk () c4i org>
>
> http://www.miami.com/mld/miamiherald/2002/07/08/news/local/3589570.htm
>
> [You have to wonder why airport officials were initially 
> concerned that a hacker had turned off the runway lights, 
> unless one can remotely control them via a dial-up or the 
> Internet?  -  WK]
>
>
> Wed, Jul. 03, 2002
>
> Federal investigators have determined that a computer malfunction
> stopped runway lights at Miami International Airport from being
> turned on for about half an hour Saturday evening, an FBI
> spokeswoman said Tuesday.
>
> Airport officials were initially concerned that a hacker caused the
> disruption.
>
> ''We looked into it and determined it was not a hacker,'' FBI
> spokeswoman Judy Orihuela said.

[...]



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