Security News > 2020 > May > Sweet TCAS! We can make airliners go up-diddly-up whenever we want, say infosec researchers

Not only can malicious people make airliners climb and dive without pilot input - they can also control where and when they do so, research from Pen Test Partners has found.

TCAS spoofing, the practice of fooling collision detection systems aboard airliners, can be controlled to precisely determine whether an airliner fitted with TCAS climbs or descends - and even to produce climb rates of up to 3,000ft/min.

Building on earlier research into the bare-bones concept [PDF], PTP said it had figured out how to shape and control airliners' automatic TCAS responses so they moved up or down at precisely known points.

The system shows pilots a target climb or descent rate, co-ordinated with the other aircraft's TCAS system, to ensure they both miss each other, so one might climb and the other descend.

By spoofing fake TCAS contacts using previously described techniques, PTP found it could control exactly where and when airliners climbed and descended.

News URL

https://go.theregister.co.uk/feed/www.theregister.co.uk/2020/05/04/tcas_spoofing_pen_test_partners/