A cybersecurity consultant by the name of Ruben Santamarta says that airplanes can be hacked through on-board Wi-Fi Internet service and in-flight entertainment systems, Reuters reports. Santamarta works for IOActive, an Internet security firm.
Santamarta claims that his method could allow a hacker to infiltrate a plane’s avionics systems. This would give the perpetrator the chance to disrupt navigation, communication, and security systems as well. Santamarta will be giving a talk on his discoveries in this area at the BlackHat 2014 conference this week.
“These devices are wide open,” Santamarta said when speaking to Reuters. “The goal of this talk is to help change that situation.”
It’s worth noting that Santamarta tested this in a controlled environment, at IOActive’s facility in Madrid.
Santamarta focused his theories, methods, and tests around Aviation 700, an aircraft satellite communications system built by a company called Cobham. At least one Cobham rep expressed doubt as to whether Santamarta’s hacking methods could be pulled off in a real world situation, stating that a hacker would need to get physical access to the hardware in order to be successful.
“In the aviation and maritime markets we serve, there are strict requirements restricting such access to authorized personnel only,” Cobham rep Greg Caires said.
It will be interesting to see whether Santamarta’s presentation will touch off a firestorm of concern and/or reform concerning aircraft safety measures and security, or whether his findings will be dismissed by the industry. Either way, we won’t have to wait too long to find out.
Nearly a month after announcing the GPT-6.1 Sol model, OpenAI unveiled GPT-6.1 Terra today. The latest addition to the family focuses on computer use, visual reasoning, coding, and professional work, while costing 50% less through the API than GPT-5.6 Terra.
OpenAI says Terra can handle everything from filling out browser forms and working inside spreadsheets to interpreting technical drawings and editing videos. The company says it can also complete computer-based tasks more than three times faster than GPT-6 Astra and GPT-6.1 Sol.
ASUS has started selling its UGen Intel Arc Pro B70 graphics card in Europe, bringing its take on Intel’s workstation GPU to customers with a hefty €1,799 recommended price. The card is available in Germany and Austria, while ASUS lists it at CHF 1,799 in Switzerland.
Intel first introduced the Arc Pro B70 in March 2026, with its own branded model starting at $949. ASUS’s version arrives several months later with the same core GPU architecture but a different cooling design and a higher power rating. The price also places it well above Intel’s original starting point, although the two prices are not directly comparable because ASUS’s European figure includes VAT.
Anthropic has officially filed to go public, and buried inside its S-1 is a blunt warning about the technology at the center of its business. The maker of Claude AI says advanced AI could cause everything from large-scale cyberattacks and geopolitical instability to catastrophic or even existential risks for humanity.
The warnings take up a surprisingly large part of the filing. Axios notes that more than 90 pages, or roughly a third of the prospectus, focus on risk factors. Many of them warn about what could happen as AI systems become more capable and autonomous.