Priveon Labs Security Blog

As of this morning (November 19, 2009), several flights have been delayed or cancelled in Atlanta's Hartsfield International Airport (ATL) due to a computer/network issue. The issue has been described as a "packet switch" that "failed due to a database mismatch" according to an AP article. While not a security issue most likely, it does serve as a strong reminder of the fragile critical infrustructure which we rely on every day. Something as simple as a subtle switch misconfiguration (or malicious misconfiguration in the case of a security breach) can impact all connected systems. In this case, the result is delayed and cancelled flights. What if this were your network? What would the impact be? Take a moment to review your high-level Disaster Recovery (DR) plans and leverage this FAA outage to your benefit.