Chris Roberts
More info
- Known for
- The 2015 in-flight tweet
Security researcher who tweeted about an airliner's systems from his seat in 2015 – and found the FBI waiting at the gate.
In April 2015, aboard a United flight, he posted a joking suggestion that he start "playing with EICAS messages". The FBI met him on landing and seized his equipment. A later FBI warrant application said he had told agents he had previously plugged into the in-flight entertainment system through the box under his seat, and once made a plane move sideways. He was never charged, and the claim has never been substantiated.
The case became a litmus test for how the industry treats unauthorised research. Shortly afterwards United launched a bug bounty – for its ground systems, and explicitly not for aircraft in flight.