On Monday, passengers aboard Delta flight 591 going from Las Vegas to Atlanta allegedly spoofed the onboard Wi-Fi, raising the attention of federal law enforcement.
The incident came one day after the DEF CON security conference concluded in Las Vegas, and was first described on social media accounts that follow publicly available air-to-ground messages, known as ACARS.
According to the “ACARS Drama” account, a message was sent by pilots from the plane stated: “NO INFO AS OF NOW WE HAVE A BUNCH OF PAX THAT WERE AT A CYBER CONFERENCE IN LAS THEY WERE ABLE TO JAM OUR WIFI AND BROADCAST THEIR SIGNAL.”
A description of the incident posted to Reddit further stated that these passengers created a fake hotspot (“Delta WiFi Fast”), with a phishing landing page “designed to harvest passengers’ personal credentials.”
This technique, sometimes known as an “evil twin” attack, has been long-known to the IT security community. It involves setting up a fake Wi-Fi network and then capturing login credentials and other data.
Morgan Durrant, a Delta spokesperson, confirmed the details to Ars.
“One initial finding is an unauthorized WiFi network, which was not provided, operated, or supplied by Delta, was present onboard the aircraft for a short time during the flight,” Durrant told Ars via email.
Delta further noted that the flight’s safety was “never in question and no aircraft operating systems were affected,” and that no emergency was declared.
The actual onboard Wi-Fi was disabled for 30 minutes.
The Atlanta Police Department referred all inquiries to the FBI. Atlanta’s FBI bureau told Ars that it is looking into the matter.
Officials there noted that no arrests were made, and that FBI agents did not meet the flight at the gate.
“FBI Atlanta is aware of reports regarding a potential Wi-Fi-related incident involving Delta Flight 591,” Tony Thomas, a spokesperson for FBI Atlanta, emailed Ars in a statement. “We are in contact with our local and corporate partners on this matter. We have no additional information to provide at this time.”
