Passenger Penalized for Aircraft Network Hack Attempt

Shanghai Airport police penalized a passenger who attempted to hack into an aircraft's onboard network system to access the Wi-Fi for free.

The incident came to light after a technology service company responsible for maintaining the airline's in-flight network detected abnormal activity on October 29.

While monitoring the system on a Melbourne-Shanghai Pudong flight, the company discovered that a passenger was scanning the aircraft's Wi-Fi backend server for vulnerabilities and attempting to break into it.

The company quickly blocked the intrusion and, after gathering the relevant data, reported the incident to the police.

Through analysis of backend data, police identified the individual behind the attack as a passenger surnamed Ai, a student studying in Australia.

He told police officers that during the flight, he overheard other passengers discussing the paid Wi-Fi service available on board and decided to find a way to access it without paying.

He then used software on his laptop to monitor the network environment, scan for vulnerabilities, and collect IP addresses within the aircraft's wireless system.

Police said Ai's actions constituted an unlawful intrusion into a computer information system. Had he succeeded, the intrusion could have forced the network service provider to shut down its server, disrupting Wi-Fi service across all of the airline's ongoing flights and potentially compromising passenger information.

Shanghai Airport police have since imposed an administrative penalty on Ai.