US Air Traffic Control system vulnerable to hackers

A US government report, due to be published today, will assert that the US air traffic control system could be vulnerable to hackers. It says that the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) failed to complete proper background checks on foreign nationals it employed to ensure that the system was Y2K compliant and other computer experts called in to look at the overall security of the system.

According to US newspaper, USA Today the report concluded that the FAA "allowed and is continuing to allow contractors to undertake sensitive assessments of the weaknesses in its systems without sufficient assurance that the individuals performing these assessments are reliable and trustworthy."

Whether this is an example of extreme US paranoia, or a legitimate cause for concern is hard to determine. The report says that the system has a pervasive weakness that leaves it vulnerable to hackers, but does not specify what kind of damage an intruder could do once in the system.

Representatives from the FAA and other government agencies are due to testify at a House science committee hearing on Wednesday about FAA security lapses. Meanwhile an FAA spokesman downplayed the threat to the system: "We think there are stringent protections which we are moving to improve daily"

The lack of security checks on employees extends right to the highest levels of clearance, the report said. It concluded that FAA officials have let background checks lapse for 75 of 350 senior agency employees with top-secret security clearance. ®