“Have you seen any suspicious behavior? Talking to anyone that you didn’t know? Or perhaps asking questions that were unlike him?”
Maria thought about it. “He was asking a lot of questions about the automated airliner. The Fend 100. But everyone has been asking questions about that. And it’s completely appropriate for Max to ask those sorts of questions. He’ll be coming to work for Fend Aerospace, as you know.”
“Yes, I’m aware. What kinds of things was he asking?”
“I don’t know,” Maria said. “The basic questions. How it worked. Who controlled the aircraft at different phases of the flight. That kind of thing.”
“Did you see him using the Fend computer network the day of the network breach? Or at any time leading up to that incident?”
“What do you mean, the Fend computer network?”
“Did you see him use any company computers on the fifteenth of last month?”
“Yes, I think so. But again, that’s completely appropriate and normal behavior.”
“I’ll decide that, thank you.”
“Very well. I apologize.”
“It’s no problem. Confirm for me this — you had a computer network breach, right?”
“Yes.”
“And the day after, you had a test flight for one of your Fend 100 prototypes, right?”
“Again, that is correct.”
“Was there a risk there? Was the Fend 100 aircraft affected by the hacking incident?”
“No.”
“You sound very sure of yourself.”
Maria frowned. “Look, I understand that it’s your job to investigate this computer security incident. But in my opinion, it’s silly to think that someone logging in to the Fend network’s email system could gain access to the datalink that controls the Fend 100 remotely.”
“Why do you say that?”
She rolled her eyes and sighed, exasperated. “Do you mind if I bring in Bradley? He’s better at explaining this type of stuff.”
“He’s the chief engineer on the project?”
“Yes.”
“Sure. Please bring him in. I’ll wait.”
Bradley Karpinsky entered a moment later. Flynn said, “Mr. Karpinsky, I was just talking to Miss Blount here about the external computer breach that occurred on the Fend network.”
“Okay.” Karpinsky shrugged.
He was going to make Flynn do all the work. Flynn hated guys like this.
“Miss Blount was telling me how she thinks it’s implausible that anyone could have gained access to the Fend 100 aircraft through the company’s computer network.”
“I would have to agree with her on that,” Karpinsky said.
“Would you mind elaborating? Using laymen’s terms?”
“Well, for one thing, the system that remotely controls the Fend 100 is a closed system. There is no connection to the company’s main computer network.”
“But our Cyber Investigation division has identified that your company’s computer network was penetrated by foreign entities.”
“So we heard,” Karpinsky said. “So what?”
“I’m just trying to cover all my bases. I want to figure out what the hackers were after. Some of my cyber experts raised the question that the aircraft itself could have been tapped into. I would like to hear your opinions on that theory.”
Maria whispered, “They think it was Max.”
Flynn frowned. “Excuse me. I never said that.”
“Well, you were asking all those questions about him. It doesn’t take a rocket scientist to see where you’re going.”
Flynn realized that she actually was a rocket scientist.
Karpinsky let out a snort. “Max Fend? Look, don’t repeat this, but that kid is more interested in buying a new boat or whatever it is rich folks do. And I doubt he would have the skills needed to gain entry into our computer network.”
Agent Flynn said, “I take it you don’t have a very high opinion of Max Fend?”
“Not really, no.”
“Why is that?”
“His father’s setting him up with a comfortable job here when he’s done with school. But the kid’s done nothing to earn it,” Karpinsky said. “Meanwhile we’re all busting our asses so that his dad can make history.”
“Bradley. Come on,” Maria said.
“Well, it’s true. You know it is.”
Flynn watched the exchange. What Flynn didn’t bother to mention was that Max Fend himself didn’t need much skill to open up the Fend network to criminal hackers. He just needed access to the Fend Aerospace computer network. Inserting a preprogrammed thumb drive, or clicking on the right external link, would create a hole in the firewall — the hackers would do the rest.
Karpinsky’s comments raised two questions in his mind. First, was it really implausible that the Fend 100 had been accessed through the company’s separate network breach? Flynn made a note to ask his cyber team about that. He had taken their word for it. He would have to dig there.
The second question in Flynn’s mind was whether Karpinsky held a grudge against Charles Fend, because he felt that Max was getting favorable treatment.
Flynn decided to change up the questions. “Mr. Karpinsky…”
“Please, call me Bradley.”
“Bradley, if you were going to seize control of the Fend 100, how would you do it?”
“I wouldn’t.”
“But if you had to — do you see any possible way for a criminal organization to do so?”
Karpinsky rubbed his chin. “I mean — hypothetically — and I mean this is way out there — but if someone was able to access the actual aircraft… maybe then they could mess around in there and—”
Maria shook her head. “I doubt that’s possible. We have so many security measures.”
“Yeah. She’s right. I mean, we have teams of engineers crawling all over the aircraft every day. We treat it like a NASA rocket launch. We check everything eight different ways to make sure there are no defects. That’s why I told your FBI investigator that I don’t think this computer network breach is a safety concern — more like a corporate security issue. Hackers trying to steal the design and software code. That is my worry.”
Flynn said, “You’re saying that the hacking incident isn’t a safety concern because no defects showed up on your tests?”
“Right.”
“Look, this might sound crazy, but I’ve gotta ask this,” Flynn said. “I’ve heard reports about people on commercial flights hacking into the aircraft’s controls through the onboard Wi-Fi network. Does the Fend 100 have any security flaws like that? Something that hackers could have taken control of?”
Maria looked at Karpinsky and they both shook their heads.
Maria said, “No. That’s not possible. I think I read an article in Wired magazine about that. Some engineer claimed to have changed the aircraft’s trajectory. But that’s just not realistic.”
“Why not?”
“Oh, I remember this one. We looked into that,” Karpinsky said. “We think the engineer in the article was able to access that aircraft through the IFE system.”
“IFE?”
Karpinsky sighed the way IT people did when talking to “non-computer” people. “The in-flight entertainment system. He probably used the port in his seat to get into the IFE system. Then, on his computer, he saw some data that he thought was the avionics system data, and he tried to manipulate it.”
“The article I read said that he did manipulate it.”
Karpinsky rolled his eyes. “That’s not possible. The data is routed through a different bus.”
“So then how—”
“Okay, let me put it this way. My daughter has a pretend steering wheel on her car seat. When we go to the grocery store, she turns the wheel and she thinks she’s moving our car, but she isn’t. That’s what happened with this guy. The data bus we use on commercial airliners is a secured, closed system. It is not possible for a passenger to hack into it.”