Major security vulnerabilities in the Federal Aviation Administration's information systems are putting air traffic control programs, along with plane passengers, at risk, two U.S. senators said in a letter to the transportation secretary on Monday.
"These vulnerabilities have potential to compromise the safety and efficiency of the national airspace system, which the travelling public relies on each and every day," Senator Bill Nelson, a Florida Democrat, and Senator John Thune, a South Dakota Republican, wrote to Transportation Secretary Anthony Foxx.
In a separate statement, Nelson said a hacker could cause "delays, near misses or potentially even a disaster."
The letter was prompted by a January report from the Government Accountability Office that warned that major weaknesses in the agency's information systems put "the safe and uninterrupted operation of the nation's air traffic control system at increased and unnecessary risk."
The GAO also found the FAA had not tested plans for restoring system operations in the event of a disruption or disaster.
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