"If a picture is worth a thousand words a video is worth a million."

While we can't in all honesty say this one is worth a million but it absolutely says a LOT in just over a minute.

Enjoy and feel free to share it.

In April 2013, at the Hack in the Box conference in Amsterdam, a security researcher Hugo Teso presented a worryingly simple demo. He was able to exploit flaws in the Aircraft Communications Addressing and Reporting System (ACARS) and hack into Flight Management Systems (FMS) using a mobile phone.

In an interview with the Sunday Express UK, Dr Sally Leivesley, a former scientific advisor to the UK government department Home Office, suggests that a mobile phone could have been used to hijack the missing Malaysian Airways Boeing 777. She says, “It is looking more and more likely that the control of some systems was taken over in a deceptive manner, either manually, so someone sitting in a seat overriding the autopilot, or via a remote device turning off or overwhelming the systems.

“A mobile phone could have been used to do so or a USB stick.”

Until the ill-fated flight MH370 is actually found and thorough investigations are made, everything said and suggested are mere speculations.

Dr Leivesley’s suggestion was largely based on the demo presented by Mr Teso. It is important to note that Mr Teso’s hack was conducted on a publicly available PC simulated FMS which are normally sold with no encryption or redundancies. When FMS is actually installed on flights they are uniquely encrypted to the aircraft’s hardware. This does not make it hack proof but it certainly isn’t going to be a walk in the park.

Somewhere in the very near future when almost all computing would be done via mobile and wearable devices, mobile hijacking would not just be a possibility but most likely. On this particular occasion though, we do not believe that the missing flight MH370 was mobile-hijacked.

According to Cisco Visual Networking Index (VNI) Global Mobile Data Traffic Forecast Update 2013-2018,

Global mobile data traffic grew 81% in 2013. Global mobile data traffic reached 1.5 exabytes* per month at the end of 2013, up from 820 petabytes per month at the end of 2012.

Global mobile data traffic will increase nearly 11-fold between 2013 and 2018. Mobile data traffic will grow at a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 61% from 2013 to 2018, reaching 15.9 exabytes* per month by 2018.

* One Exabyte (EB) = One Billion Gigabytes (GB)

These are staggering figures, considering only 10 years ago the idea of a mobile phone with Internet was, well, too geeky! Nevertheless, the task we have right now is to make sure we don’t get left behind. So let’s quickly look at some of the key pros and cons of mobile websites and mobile apps.

Mobile/Responsive Design Websites
These websites can be either custom built mobile only websites or responsive design websites that automatically modify based on the device used to view them viz. desktops, mobiles and tablets.

         Pros

• Cheaper to build
  
• Do not require screen specific coding
  
• Work on virtually all platforms (Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, Blackberry etc.)
  
• Easy to update
  
• Easily discoverable
  

         Cons

• User experience is generally average at best
  
• Poor user engagement
  

Mobile Apps
Well there is one for everything, isn’t there?

         Pros

• Great user experience
  
• High user engagement
  
• Can capture detailed statistical data on users allowing better understanding of market trends and needs
• Allows personalised service

         Cons

• Comparatively expensive to build. (AUD$5000 to AUD$150,000 depending on various requirements)
• Difficult and hence expensive to update or change
• Requires ongoing maintenance

Of course, predictably, your choices will largely depend on the type of your business and products or services offered. Having both with a robust strategy can do wonders for most businesses. At the very least building a website with responsive design will ensure your presence on mobile platforms.

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