Dr Leivesley, who runs her own company training businesses and governments to counter terrorist attacks, told the Sunday Express she believed malicious codes, triggered by a mobile phone, would have been able to override the aircraft’s security.
“There appears to be an element of planning from someone with a very sophisticated systems engineering understanding,” Dr Leivesley 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.
“A mobile phone could have been used to do so or a USB stick.
“When the plane is air-side, you can insert a set of commands and codes that may initiate, on signal, a set of processes.”
Dr Leivesley said the hacking threat was raised at a science conference in China last year.
“What we are finding now is that it is possible with a mobile phone to initiate a signal to a preset piece of malicious software, or malware, in the computer that initiates a whole set of instructions,’’ she said.
“It is possible for hackers —
be they part of organised crime or with government backgrounds — to get into the main computer network of the plane through the inflight, onboard entertainment system.