Florida Woman Hacked Flight Systems To Allow Planes With Maintenance Issues To Fly
A disgruntled former employee of Melbourne Flight Training is facing numerous charges after hacking into their computer system numerous times since the beginning of 2020.
The CEO of MFT, Derek Fallon, noticed something was wrong at the beginning of 2020 when he noticed that 12 planes have been previously flagged for maintenance issues were now cleared to fly.
They identified the suspect as Lauren Lide, 26. Her father was fired in November of 2019 as Director of Maintenance. When he was fired she quit her job there as Flight Operations Manager on the same day.
The IP address led back to the father’s computer and when he pressed and questioned, he expressed concern that his daughter might have done it.
Detectives determined “Lauren Lide is one of only a few people in the area who had the knowledge, skills and ability to alter” the flight records.
She’s facing charges of accessing a computer electronic device without authority and modifying computer data programs without authority.
