These should be USB sticks, but otherwise this is preferable to something like wifi.

You do not want to stop requiring physical access to avionics for updates and reprogramming.

The fewer surfaces for entry into the avionics systems the better and if that means an engineer schlepping a database update on a thumb drive to the cockpit that's what you want.

I spent the better part of a decade on avionics, and while this as a headline sounds bad it's one of the few things Boeing shouldn't be mocked for right now.

I mean, they're pretty old planes. I don't expect them to rip out all the equipment and replace it if it still does the job.

I know that the glass cockpits (G1000s) in General Aviation aircraft use SD cards for the same purpose. Less dated, but overall pretty much the same thing

This is the best summary I could come up with:

The Register reports that security researchers at Pen Test Partners recently got access to a British Airways 747, after the airline decided to retire its fleet following a plummet in travel during the coronavirus pandemic.

The team was able to inspect the full avionics bay beneath the passenger deck, with its data center-like racks of modular black boxes that perform different functions for the plane.

Pen Test Partners discovered a 3.5-inch floppy disk drive in the cockpit, which is used to load important navigation databases.

A cybersecurity professor discovered a buffer overflow exploit onboard a British Airways flight last year.

It’s more of a traditional network like you’d find inside an office building, and some of the latest airliners even receive software updates over the air.

Boeing only just resumed production of its troubled 737 Max airplane after software glitches led to two fatal crashes that killed a total of 346 passengers and crew members.

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