DEF CON Crowd Suspected In Fake-Hotspot Attack On Delta Flight

On Monday, passengers on Delta flight 591 from Las Vegas to Atlanta allegedly faked the plane's Wi-Fi network, alerting federal law enforcement. The incident occurred just after the DEF CON security conference wrapped up in Las Vegas, and was initially reported on social media accounts tracking air-to-ground messages, known as ACARS.

According to the ACARS Drama account, a pilot on the plane posted: "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 Reddit post further explained that these passengers created a fake hotspot named "Delta WiFi Fast" with a phishing landing page designed to steal passengers' personal credentials.

This type of attack, known as an "evil twin" attack, is a tactic familiar to the IT security community. It involves setting up a fake Wi-Fi network to capture login credentials and other data. Delta confirmed the presence of an unauthorized Wi-Fi network on the aircraft for a brief period during the flight, but assured that the flight's safety was never compromised and no emergency was declared. The actual onboard Wi-Fi was disabled for 30 minutes.