Air Traffic control systems vulnerable

You would think that it's cybersecurity protection week with the number of articles out in public about cyberattacks and the vulnerabilities of the federal government's many networks. In one case, the Department of Transportation's Inspector General just concluded that the nation's air traffic control systems are vulnerable to hack attacks, like just about everything else in the government's cyberspace.

The IG's report is chilling. It said the nation's air traffic control systems are vulnerable to cyberattacks, and that its support systems have been hacked, allowing illegal access to personnel records and network servers.

The report outlined two incidents that are especially alarming. Just three months ago, hackers gained access to personal information on about 48,000 current and former FAA employees. In another case, hackers took control of some FAA network servers last year.

"In our opinion, unless effective action is taken quickly, it is likely to be a matter of when, not if, ATC (air traffic control) systems encounter attacks that do serious harm to ATC operations," the auditors said.

For more on the FAA vulnerabilities:
- check out this nextgov.com article