Malaysia Airlines Flygning MH370 saknas (2014-03-08)

British anti-terror expert Dr Sally Leivesley said last night: “It might well be the world’s first cyber hijack.”

Dr Leivesley, a former Home Office scientific adviser, said the hackers could change the plane’s speed, altitude and direction by sending radio signals to its flight management system. It could then be landed or made to crash by remote control. Possible culprits include criminal gangs, terrorists or a foreign power.

The chilling new theory emerged as the hunt for the missing Malaysia Airways Boeing 777 with 239 people on board became the biggest air-sea search in history.

More than a week after Flight MH370 vanished en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing, Malaysian police began searching the captain and co-pilot’s homes as it was finally confirmed that the disappearance was a “deliberate act”.

Dr Leivesley, who runs her own company training businesses and governments to counter terrorist attacks, told the Sunday Express she believes a framework of malicious codes, triggered by a mobile phone, would have been able to override the aircraft’s security software.

“There appears to be an element of planning from someone with a very sophisticated systems engineering understanding,” she said.

“This is a very early version of what I would call a smart plane, a fly-by-wire aircraft controlled by electronic signals.

“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.

Reports say the family of Capt Zaharie have moved out of their house in Laman Seri, a gated community in Shah Alam. It remains unclear, however, when they chose to leave their home.

A report from Malaysia's The Star newspaper said: "According to some family friends, Capt Zaharie’s family had moved out a few days ago after MH370 went missing."

A report by Malay Mail, however, was said that Capt Zaharie's family moved to a different house even before flight MH370 went missing.

The Mail on Sunday has learned that Captain Zaharie Ahmad Shah was an ‘obsessive’ supporter of Malaysia’s opposition leader, Anwar Ibrahim. And hours before the doomed flight left Kuala Lumpur it is understood 53-year-old Shah attended a controversial trial in which Ibrahim was jailed for five years.
Campaigners say the politician, the key challenger to Malaysia’s ruling party, was the victim of a long-running smear campaign and had faced trumped-up charges.
Police sources have confirmed that Shah was a vocal political activist – and fear that the court decision left him profoundly upset.