Flight Crew Air Transport Pilot (ATP); Flight Crew Multiengine; Flight Crew Instrument
ATC Issue All Types; Deviation / Discrepancy - Procedural Security
General None Reported / Taken
Airspace Structure; Procedure
As we progress into domestic CPDLC capability and use; have we examined the necessity for encrypted CPDLC communications? We had a technical glitch a few years ago on the NATs (North Atlantic Tracks) where one of our planes got an unsolicited climb instruction from ATC. They contacted ATC via voice and confirmed it was erroneous; so a potentially deadly conflict was avoided. If we have CPDLC in airspace that is much more congested than the NATs and someone wanted to disrupt ATC operations; sow confusion and potentially cause midair collisions; how hard will it be for them to hack into this system and send CPDLC messages to either ATC or aircraft? If 10 aircraft; all within 20 nm of each other; got hacked ATC instructions and only half acted on those messages; the potential for catastrophic results are very high. Encrypting CPDLC communications is essential to the integrity and reliability of our ATC system.
B767 Captain reported unsolicited ATC instructions and suggested CPDLC encryption.