Boeing 747s receive critical software updates over 3.5" floppy disks
Found on The Register on Thursday, 13 August 2020
Boeing 747-400s still use floppy disks for loading critical navigation databases, Pen Test Partners has revealed to the infosec community after poking about one of the recently abandoned aircraft.
"This database has to be updated every 28 days, so you can see how much of a chore this has to be for an engineer to visit," Lomas said, pointing out the floppy drive – which in normal operations is tucked away behind a locked panel.
So what? It seems to work and it is much more secure than having the plane join some wireless network, or rely on someone plugging a USB stick in that comes with preinstalled malware, or even causes physical damage.