Controlling an Airplane remotely + FREE Air Miles for Hackers

CNN is reporting that a hacker was able to take control of the flight of an airplane through hacking a wireless system. But what about our trains? Could the recent Amtrak crash be the direct result of a system that was hacked? I have no seen or read about anything raising this question. Perhaps it is too much of a stretch and maybe a degree of paranoia, but would I don’t think it would be a policy to have a proactive security system in place before this scenario becomes a reality and we must be reactive. An once of prevention…  As a former Alaskan, I played the frequent flyer miles “game” successfully and was able to navigate some “free” trips to exotic locations. In Alaska, air miles are similar to gold. When I saw this unique contest on earning United Airlines air miles through technology and MATH, I knew some of my colleagues and friends would be interested. Basically, United Airlines is offering hackers up to 1 million air miles as a reward for discovering vulnerabilities on its website. White hat hackers who find bugs and duly report them to the company will be rewarded with the air miles, but only the most serious vulnerabilities will attain the maximum 1 million air miles. There are some stringent requirements to taking part in United’s Bug Bounty Program, including the need to be “a MileagePlus member in good standing,” “not be the author of the vulnerable code,” and “not be an employee of United Airlines.” Furthermore, the vulnerability must be discovered without actually testing it on live systems. Which makes perfect sense.

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