On 16 October, the Air Force announced an F-16 flying over Nevada "accidentally"attacked a civilian vehicle with a dummy bomb.  At least that's the official story.  In reality, the cyber community has learned that someone at Nellis AFB pulled a "cyber prank" on one of their F-16s.

It sounds almost too funny to say that some flyboys on the ground wanted to remotely take over the supervisory control and data acquisision (SCADA) system in the cockpit from a pilot as a practical joke.  Basically, they wanted to do what they'd seen in the movie "Eagle Eye," in the scene where a computer remotely convinces an F-16 to eject its pilot over the Washington D.C. area.  The guys on the ground wanted the pilot to complete a poor bombing run so he'd have to buy all the drinks for them that evening.

The problem was that none of the flyboys on the ground had any real cyber experience in taking over a fighter aircraft without a proper ground control station to control it.  They gained control of the cockpit and dropped the dummy bomb on a civilian vehicle outside the base.  Thank goodness the bomb only made a glancing blow.  No one in the vehicle was injured.

This incident would be funny if not for the fact they nearly killed a U.S. civilian on U.S. territory.  The lesson here is obvious.  If you're going to hack into an F-16 like in the movies, at least make sure you know what you're aiming at!