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PCs Pilfered, Paralyzing Populace

Posted by michael on from the doh! dept.

Heywood Yabuzof writes "According to this Wired story, thieves in Chile caused traffic to grind to a halt when they decided to steal the computers (15 PCs and 2 servers) that control the traffic lights in Santiago. Funny how everyone worries so much about preventing "evil hackers" from breaking in to systems remotely and causing chaos, and then some burglars just go ahead and steal the critical computers to produce the same (unintended?) results."

62 of 162 comments (clear)

  1. It's a good thing... by Sivar · · Score: 4, Funny

    It's a good thing they had the servers all in one place, else they may have inconvenience the thieves.

    --
    Computer Science is no more about computers than astronomy is about telescopes. --E. W. Dijkstra
    1. Re:It's a good thing... by 56ker · · Score: 2

      Makes you wonder why they needed computers to control the traffic lights - surely that could be done with some 555 timers & other ICs instead of going to the expense of using PCs? It reminds me of my GCSE technology coursework - even though there was no need for it to be computer controlled (things like a burglar alarm etc) we had to make it computer controlled just for the extra marks!? Maybe this is the same mentality here - they've been taught they need to have everything computer controlled so they've done it that way!

      --


      Video Game cheats, hints a
    2. Re:It's a good thing... by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 5, Informative
      Makes you wonder why they needed computers to control the traffic lights - surely that could be done with some 555 timers

      Read the article. The traffic light were able to operate autonomously using builtin timers... What the computer did was ensure synchonization between one crossroads and the next. To make sure that when you get a green light, the lights are also green in the next few crossroads. Timers tend to drift, and hence an centralized system is necessary to keep things in sync.

      And presumably the computer system also changes the timings to adapt to the differences in traffic patterns throughout the day (giving longer green periods to those directions where the most traffic is at that time). Nowadays, most city road networks operate very close to their capacity, and even little details such as the exact timing of traffic light are important to keep matters fluid.

      --
      Say no to software patents.
    3. Re:It's a good thing... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      I find it hard to believe that most city streets operate at anything even approaching 100% capacity. It's probably more like 60-70%. Even dumb old me, could think of ways to further optimize it.

      And it wouldn't even consist of locking the server room, and posting a rent-a-cop. LOL.

    4. Re:It's a good thing... by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 3, Insightful
      I find it hard to believe that most city streets operate at anything even approaching 100% capacity. It's probably more like 60-70%.

      Considering the average over the whole day, and over all roads and streets in the network, it's probably even much lower than that. What's relevant here is peak usage: how overloaded are the main arteries at rush hour?

      --
      Say no to software patents.
    5. Re:It's a good thing... by 56ker · · Score: 2

      About the first one - where I live is at a major junction right next to a bunch of traffic lights. People expect long traffic jams and delays at rush hour - that's just normal. As to your second point if you watch the lights at night (I can see them from my bedroom window) they only change when a car comes along. With these two systems - central control is not needed. That's why I felt computers in all this were unecessary - because in the case I know about they are!

      --


      Video Game cheats, hints a
    6. Re:It's a good thing... by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 2
      About the first one - where I live is at a major junction right next to a bunch of traffic lights. People expect long traffic jams and delays at rush hour - that's just normal.

      Indeed. But there is a difference between long and very long...

      As to your second point if you watch the lights at night (I can see them from my bedroom window) they only change when a car comes along.

      That works ok only on crossroads where one direction has hardly ever a car. But as soon as higher level of traffic are to be dealt with, the system would also need to find out how many cars there are, and what the overall state of the system is. Computerized traffic control systems are pretty much common in many large cities nowadays, even though they are usually better secured than in this case.

      --
      Say no to software patents.
    7. Re:It's a good thing... by NoMoreNicksLeft · · Score: 2

      True. But how overloaded do they have to be? For instance, I know of one major street with 5 stoplights. You can't make it through all of them, and on some days, you'll see more than 2 redlights before you're through it. At rush hour, you'll see all 5. During rush hour, some of the cross-streets will have 1 or 2 cars waiting for their light, but it's just as likely there won't be. Do you ignore those one or two cars, and make them wait 20 minutes to cross? Do you hold up traffic every two minutes, even when those cars aren't there?

      Is it just me, or is there something wrong with this? Hell, I'm sure they haven't stolen our traffic control computers... so what gives? Maybe they have, but there was a coverup? Heh. My solution would solve all this, and a few more problems... and not be some multimillion dollar smartroad project with a 20 year timetable and unbelievable cost overruns.

      Which pretty much guarantees no one would ever want anything to do with it.

  2. You've gotta love... by goneaway · · Score: 3, Funny

    that they just hung out for a while and had some snacks. A LAN party before the heist perhaps?

    --
    your = it belongs to you. you're = a contraction of you and are. Got it now?
    1. Re:You've gotta love... by gnovos · · Score: 5, Funny

      "Ned, where did all the servers go!?!?"

      "Don't worry, boss, they were all transfered over to the IBM e-server!"

      "Oooooh, excellent! Ah, where exactly IS the e-server?"

      "Oh, that got stolen."

      --
      "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
  3. Physical Security by dirvish · · Score: 5, Informative

    Physical security is just as important as network security. If the admin of these servers and computers had safegaurded their physical security there wouldn't have been a problem. Hackers are just one threat...vandals must also be considered. That is why physical security is one of the 10 sections covered in the CISSP certification exam (the premeire information security certification).

    --
    FoundNews.com - get paid to blog.,
    1. Re:Physical Security by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 2, Insightful

      They deactivated the alarm system and security cameras, Generally ir is not the sysadmins job to do more than request extra security from whoever physical security is contracted out to.

    2. Re:Physical Security by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 4, Interesting

      Other very common mistake is leaving a floppy drive set up as the first booting device, or not having password protected BIOS settings.

      With e.g. Debian boot floppies or any other mini Linux and mini Unix distribution you can just insert a floppy, hit reset and wait a while until you got r00t and do whatever you want (like change the real root password in /etc/shadow on the main partition to whatever you want).

      I'm talking about it, because it's much easier than trying to write a remote exploit, much easier than writing a local exploit and much easier than actually stealing the whole hardware. It's usually also much easier than social engineering.

      It wouldn't be even hard to make a floppy which automatically do something to the system (like adding new users and adding them to every group, changing passwords, reading encrypted passwords for later cracking, leaving backdoors, etc.). When you have such a floppy, you only need few seconds to insert it, hit reset, come back after a minute when everything is done, take your floppy and hit reset again.

      You can even prepare this floppy in a way, that when everything is done, your files from the floppy are deleted and "shutdown -r" is run. That way even when someone enters the room before you, he'll only find a normally working system with empty floppy in the drive. The chances are that no one will even go there to see what's wrong if the server was down for a minute and now it's OK, especially if it's a lunch brake or something.

      Very dangerous and very easy if you can only go near a computer, and if it can boot the system from the floppy. And I've already seen servers without BIOS passwords and those set to boot in order of floppy,cd,hdd. It's very important and often forgotten issue, it's somewhere between physical and non-physical (logical?) security.

      --

      ~shiny
      WILL HACK FOR $$$

    3. Re:Physical Security by mark-t · · Score: 3, Informative

      Physical security is just as important as network security.

      Although the point you've made here is essentially correct, physical security is actually _more_ important than network security, as without it, any and all additional security features are rendered null and void. Period.

      --
      File under 'M' for 'Manic ranting'
    4. Re:Physical Security by GeorgieBoy · · Score: 3, Informative
      With e.g. Debian boot floppies [debian.org] or any other mini Linux [uga.edu] and mini Unix [cotse.com] distribution you can just insert a floppy, hit reset and wait a while until you got r00t and do whatever you want (like change the real root password in /etc/shadow on the main partition to whatever you want).

      It's really even easier than that, in fact, without a floppy, you can just tell the bootloader (e.g. lilo) to boot with options like "linux init=/bin/sh" or something similar, and after the kernel loads you'll just get a shell.
    5. Re:Physical Security by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 2

      Yes, you're right. Sometimes you can even use a backdoor password. I remember that password AMI worked for every AmiBIOS some time ago (extremely stupid idea, once someone knows such a password, every system can be compromised). There's a lot of interesting articles on the Web about cracking BIOS passwords:

      A Google search for BIOS Passwords gives quite a few hits. Putting your floppy into the drive is the fastest and easiest thing you can do if you have physical access, but it's not the only issue. No one should ever be allowed to be near the important servers, except people responsible for the security.

      Somehow off-topic, but speaking about security, I have to recommend one of the best texts about security (mostly about secure programming) I've ever read: Secure Programming for Linux and Unix HOWTO by David A. Wheeler. Great read. And speaking about passwords, it's good to read great publications of Alec Muffett, the author of the famous crack(1) and CrackLib:

      It's maybe not very on-topic when speaking about physical security, but it's very important to understand the security as a whole.

      --

      ~shiny
      WILL HACK FOR $$$

    6. Re:Physical Security by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 2

      It's really even easier than that, in fact, without a floppy, you can just tell the bootloader (e.g. lilo) to boot with options like "linux init=/bin/sh" or something similar, and after the kernel loads you'll just get a shell.

      I haven't thought about it. It's even better, because you can do it on a machine without floppy and CD drive, or without knowing/cracking BIOS password, however you have to do everything manually. But it's easy to e.g. copy /bin/sh to /bin/cracksh with suid root, or even make a simple remote backdoor. What's important is that people think they have hard to guess root password and a secure system, but with access to reset switch and keyboard anyone can be root after 10 seconds.

      --

      ~shiny
      WILL HACK FOR $$$

    7. Re:Physical Security by zCyl · · Score: 2

      Heheh, some of the comments on here show that people have spent far too much time at a keyboard. For Joe Schmoe who is running a website on fish mating habbits, physical security is nothing, because the only attack will come from random network attacks. But for a serious computer system, physical security is perhaps MORE important than network security, because it's already known exactly how to get past physical safeguards if you can access a machine.

      In summary, all the comments being mentioned like locking the bios, making sure it doesn't boot to floppy, etc, is "nice", but all it does is buy you a few extra minutes worth of physical security. And for a serious system, minutes are nothing. If you want physical security for a system, lock the thing in a vault and don't even let your janitors near it.

    8. Re:Physical Security by Shiny+Metal+S. · · Score: 2

      AC: Again, the nine-bit security of UNIX falls down. It's so archaic.

      M**20: It's the security of your office. Don't blame unix.

      You're right. Of course the security of UNIX doesn't fall down because I can bypass it with direct access to the hardware. The AC said that the standard Unix file permission bits are archaic. They are in fact archaic in a sense of ancient and old-fashioned, but they are not archaic in a sense of no longer current or applicable. They are archaic like the Kant's categorical imperative is.

      However there are actually not 9 but 12 bits (set-uid, set-gid and sticky bit, owner read, write and execute, group read, write and execute, and others read, write and execute). This system is very simple and extremely practical, but this is not the end of Unix security mechanisms. You can mount filesystems with different restrictions, you can use additional file attributes of your filesystem, there are POSIX capabilities, etc.

      With ACs there's a problem, that you never know if the one who answers is the original AC, or a different one, but I'll ask anyway: What would you change with the Unix (POSIX) security system? I guess that you only said it to start a flame war, but just in case you had anything insightful in mind, I'd like you to say some more details about Unix/Linux security and other models which you prefer, or any suggestions about features you would change or add. It could be very interesting.

      I think, however, that when you fully understand Unix, you will appreciate and enjoy this powerful and flexible security model. But, as Henry Spencer once said, "Those who do not understand Unix are condemned to reinvent it, poorly."

      --

      ~shiny
      WILL HACK FOR $$$

  4. This is a problem all over the world by jedrek · · Score: 5, Interesting

    Sitting behind our screens, we sometimes forget that the entire network is actually a physical entity. We remind ourselves of it when a backhoe rips through our ISP's OC3, or when we're out of cable and can't connect our network card to our router or modem.

    Well, at least I do.

    Anyway, here in Poland there's a problem with people stealing cable. Not cable-tv, but telecommunication cables. Whole neighborhoods here in Warsaw have been cut off from telephony because of stolen inter-exchange cable. Railroad lights have been known to fail because of stolen equipment (this happens way too often). It's twice as bad in Russia, trust me.

    Actually, at times, it seems like everything that isn't screwed or welded down in this country (this region) will get stolen. Ah... sucks pretty bad.

    1. Re:This is a problem all over the world by Aceticon · · Score: 2

      I was aware of that sort of problem in Africa, but i hadn't the slightest idea it occured in Poland also - one learns new things everyday.

      Against that sort of problems i sugest fibre-optics instead of copper cables. Being totally worthless for anything else is one of the great values of fibre over copper cables - a thief can sell the copper in the copper cables, but not the glass in fibre (glass is way too cheap to be worth the trouble).

    2. Re:This is a problem all over the world by jedrek · · Score: 2

      Yeah, I've heard that before.

      I know for a fact (it's happened a few times) that fibreoptic cable will get stolen because thieves don't know any better. There's not actually that much money in cables, so the guys stealing them aren't really sophisticated.

  5. Skill. by Renraku · · Score: 2

    It would have taken some real skill to steal all of that via the Internet.

    --
    Job? I don't have time to get a job! Who will sit around and bitch about being broke and unemployed then?
  6. Fault tolerance and worst case scenarios by JohnBE · · Score: 2

    I would have thought that the system would have been designed with the worst case scenario firmly in mind and had I not seen the article I would have thought it a hoax story. However I am ashamed to say that I have seen so many single points of failure while doing consulting work, that the whole article is another depressing reminder of the 'it won't happen to me syndrome'.

    Should have critical path analysis and worse case scenarios inherent in the design of the system as a whole as opposed to individual object security. I.E. don't just spend time securing the machines electronically but also ask what happens if someone boots down the door and steals the machines or if someone leaves the server room door open with a brick (I have once seen this). A more holistic view perhaps.

    --
    e4 e5
    1. Re:Fault tolerance and worst case scenarios by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 2
      or if someone leaves the server room door open with a brick

      Worse: leave the door to the facility open with a brick (to let fresh air into the non-airconditioned building), and in the evening, conveniently leave the brick outside near the door for the next day.

      Oh, btw did I mention that it was a glass door?

      --
      Say no to software patents.
    2. Re:Fault tolerance and worst case scenarios by dillon_rinker · · Score: 2

      Bricks are pretty common...as are steel bars, rocks, tire irons, etc...

      I'll grant that this was an invitation to mischief makers.

  7. Hahah by autopr0n · · Score: 5, Funny

    Not only did they steal the computers, they stole the alarm system that was supposed to protect them.

    The worlds most sarcastic criminals, is what we've got here :P

    --
    autopr0n is like, down and stuff.
    1. Re:Hahah by evilviper · · Score: 2

      LMAO. Didn't see that comming.

      --
      Slashdot gets worse every day... Pipedot: News for nerds, without the corporate slant
  8. I hope they had a good backup strategy by cygnusx · · Score: 3, Insightful

    The real test for the admins at the end of the day will be -- how fast can they bring the systems back online?

    Honestly, how different is this (apart from being more spectacular) from a power spike frying your servers (maybe because of a UPS problem)?

  9. rofl by rtscts · · Score: 3, Funny
    Summary: inside job.

    It's funny shit though:
    But while stealing the goods, valued at US$90,000, they took their time. According to police reports, these peculiar robbers smoked some cigarettes, ate a snack, and drank a few cups of joe, taking it easy before leaving the scene of the crime

    And my favourite:
    After they loaded the computers into a van, the alarm was also taken

    ROFL. 10/10 for style. Someone buy these clowns a beer (before they earn themselves a darwin award).

    1. Re:rofl by Rhinobird · · Score: 2

      9.7...9.6...9.9...and a 7 from the Russian judge...

      The judges clearly giving style points for the taking of the alarm system, however there is that automatic 10th point deduction for not turning off the surveilence system.

      Back to you Chuck...

      --
      If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  10. backups backups by doubtless · · Score: 2, Insightful

    Any admins know that backup is one of the top priorities, and we all know the importance of off-site backups.

    In this case, they should have at least 2 different sites that runs the traffic light system. Much like hospitals having at least a backup power supply, critical services like this are never to be interrupted.

    Imagine if this happens to the air traffic systems, then I'm sure it wouldn't even be funny.

    --
    geek page at KY speaks
  11. Physical Security by SgtChaireBourne · · Score: 2, Interesting
    The theft in Santiago makes a good point about physical security and single point of failure. I stayed at a national record keeping agency a few years ago which got hit by thieves a few weeks before I arrived. In the areas they hit, they got every last CPU and piece of RAM and were out again before the alarm was respondend to.

    Unlike the one in Santiago, this organization was very lucky that none of the hard drives were damaged or taken so there was no loss of working data, only expense and disruption of work. However, the building was sufficiently compartmentalized that they could only clean out a few administrative departments. They were already the model of security and efficiency for their primary charges. None of that is easily threatened by outsiders. However, after that they got religion about backups for even working material.

    Fires, roof leaks, or clumsy people near the servers could have a similiar effect.

    --
    Beta is broken and the link to classic doesn't work. Stop wasting our time or there won't be anybody left here.
  12. in related news... by anti-drew · · Score: 2, Funny

    April 4, 2002 LONDON (NewsWire) The perfect crime was committed last night, when thieves broke into Scotland Yard and stole all the toilets.

    Police say they have absolutely nothing to go on.

  13. 3 AM is too late for alliteration by Roosey · · Score: 3, Funny

    Pernicious people plundered PCs providing parkway profluence producing paralyzing predicaments?

    Preposterous! :]

    1. Re:3 AM is too late for alliteration by gnovos · · Score: 2

      Assinine alliterationist are always awaiting an astounding ass-kicking.

      --
      "Your superior intellect is no match for our puny weapons!"
  14. The worst... by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 3, Funny

    I'm sure this caused some of the worst crashes in the history of computing

  15. h4ck th3 pl4n37!!! by IntelliTubbie · · Score: 4, Funny

    Update: although the traffic jam caused a significant delay for police, the thieves were later arrested at Grand Central Station after hacking into a Gibson mainframe from a bank of public telephones. The perpetrators, identified as Angelina "Acid Burn" Jolie and Jonny Lee "Crash Override" Miller, were later released and have since gone on to make better movies. Sandra Bullock was unavailable for comment.

    Cheers,
    IT

    --

    Power corrupts. PowerPoint corrupts absolutely.

  16. Could have been worse by upper · · Score: 2, Interesting

    The lights could have been reprogrammed so to show everybody green lights all the time. Or to act almost normally, but to occasionally turn more lights green than their should be.

    Or maybe that wouldn't have been possible -- it's not clear from the article whether the computers controlled the signals in detail or just sent sync signals to otherwise autonomous lights.

  17. Happens with phone copper too by bobobobo · · Score: 3, Interesting

    Similarly, another problem in 3rd world countries that are trying to develop any kind of widespread phone infrastructure, is that the actual copper itself is pulled out of the ground and stolen! This is one of the reasons India for example, is moving forward with satellite technology instead, as this practice tends to be commonplace and fairly frustrating.

    1. Re:Happens with phone copper too by BlueUnderwear · · Score: 2

      Happens also with wires for electricity. Fortunately, in that case, the problem is self correcting

      --
      Say no to software patents.
    2. Re:Happens with phone copper too by Rhinobird · · Score: 2

      yeah, kinda hard to steal a sattellite. So..are the Indians big on that beamed space power stuff too? Kinda hard to steal eletrical cables if the power is zapping you out in the open...

      --
      If Mr. Edison had thought smarter he wouldn't sweat as much. --Nikola Tesla
  18. It would have been funny if... by l810c · · Score: 3, Funny

    they were caught in the ensuing traffic jam.

  19. DoS? by prakashj79 · · Score: 2, Funny
    Does this count as a DoS attack? Talk of insecure systems. Sheesh.

    --
    With profound apologies to whomsoever this sig originally belonged.
  20. Keep an eye out... by quintessent · · Score: 5, Funny

    ...for PCs on eBay that come pre-loaded with traffic controlling software.

    --
    Donate background CPU time to fight cancer.
  21. Tangential Tidbit by LionKimbro · · Score: 4, Interesting

    I have heard that the US phone companies store the telephone switching computers in carefully unmarked basements of various public buildings in the areas where they are performing switching.

    I have also heard that these are typically UNIX systems, and- get this- your phone number represents a series of cd ("cd", as in "change directory") operations into a file tree.

    So for example, if your phone number is 547-9510, then information about connecting to you is stored in directory ..../5/4/7/9/5/1/0/

    I don't know if any of this is true, but I have heard it from a person who has business knowing such things, and it sounds plausible to me. =^_^=

    Reply if you know better. Just a tangential tidbit.

    1. Re:Tangential Tidbit by Fulcrum+of+Evil · · Score: 2

      I have heard that the US phone companies store the telephone switching computers in carefully unmarked basements of various public buildings in the areas where they are performing switching.

      This is someimes true; at&t leases space from buildings that doesn't show up on the directory and puts switching equipment there. Outside of the cities, they usually have there own buildings, called COs. Around here, they're typically 2 story brick buildings with no windows, but i have heard of them converting a townhouse.

      I have also heard that these are typically UNIX systems, and- get this- your phone number represents a series of cd ("cd", as in "change directory") operations into a file tree.

      Nope. It's a custom system written in a C variant.

      --
      "We returned the General to El Salvador, or maybe Guatemala, it's difficult to tell from 10,000 feet"
    2. Re:Tangential Tidbit by fliplap · · Score: 2

      A common location for Qwest (formerly USWest here) is in highschools, not even the basements, but free standing structures. I didn't find out until long after i graduated that the thing everyone figured was an athletic equipment storage room was really full of switching equipment.

    3. Re:Tangential Tidbit by Kanasta · · Score: 2

      Hrm. Unless the US phone companies work very differently from the rest of the world, I'd say no, that's absolute crap.

      But then again...

  22. Re:i hope for their sake by catwh0re · · Score: 2, Funny

    the purpose of stealing such equipment, none other than to run the largest lego city the world is yet to see. purrrrr

  23. yep by nomadic · · Score: 2

    Funny how everyone worries so much about preventing "evil hackers" from breaking in to systems remotely and causing chaos, and then some burglars just go ahead and steal the critical computers to produce the same (unintended?) results.

    Right, they really need to leave those dashing young hackers alone, and instead pass laws outlawing theft. OH WAIT, THEY ALREADY HAVE.

    Just so you all know, this story isn't as ironic as you think it is.

  24. Re:i hope for their sake by herko_cl · · Score: 4, Informative

    Living in Santiago, I can testify they luckily did. Using a backup server, they were able to restore traffic to normal within 6 hours.
    I'd like to clarify a few points, though. Our traffic lights are fully autonomous, but the stolen computers analyze traffic flow via cameras at critical junctions and synchronize the lights from one crossroads to the next.
    This works so well that, even when traffic is extremely heavy, cars keep moving along. On most mornings and evenings, if you are going "with the flow" you can drive for miles without getting a red light.

    On the subject of security: apart from stealing the alarm system (we thought that was funny, too), they removed heavy cast-iron bars from a window to enter this office. To do this, they had to break down part of the wall. This was obviously a well-planned, well executed heist.

    --
    No .sig for you! ONE YEAR!
  25. Another /. POS Story? by stretch_jc · · Score: 2, Funny

    Does this mean we're going to have a /. article on how someone hacked linux onto a traffic control system? :)

  26. No one Uses Traffic Lights in Chile or South A by puto · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I do not see what the big deal is.

    I am part Colombian and the rest from New Orleans(go figure). And although I live and grew up in the states I have lived three of my 32 years in South America. AND DRIVEN THROUGH EVERY COUNTRY!

    No one uses stoplights. They are a like pretty christmas decorations. If it is read you do

    1.the "rolling Stop",
    2.haul ass and hope you don't die
    3.slow down but go through(most popular)

    However, the funniest thing with all the hurrah is. All latin American countries have huge police forces. Chile is no exception. But it makes you wonder if the theives can rob a government building, what about the quality of protection for the regular guy?

    --
    The Revolution Will Not Be Televised
  27. Re:heard that by uebernewby · · Score: 2

    ...in another country, the speed cams posted at intersections were being stolen, so they had to install spy cams to monitor the speed cams....too funny.

    Yes, and that country would be the Netherlands. Only the speed cams weren't stolen, they were demolished.

    --

    News and bla for computer musicians: http://lomechanik.net/
  28. Oh? by dsb3 · · Score: 2

    ... thieves in Chile caused traffic to grind to a halt when they decided to steal the computers ... Actually, I think they only caused traffic patterns to change when they actually stole the computers, not when they decided to as the original article would seem to indicate.

    --

    Slashdot? Oh, I just read it for the articles.
  29. A layer 1 problem by buss_error · · Score: 2
    I've been somewhat ignored when I keep bringing up physical security. I keep pointing out the problems and weak areas of our plant, and nothing is done. I point out the insecurity of our security, but proceedures don't change. I keep pointing out that if you can put your hands on the server, all the fancy firewalls and IDS systems in the world won't keep people out of the server, or keep the server up.

    Despite this, all the cool technocrap that comes along gets sent to me and other for review, but the simple things like removing windows, chaning some alarm proceedures, and making entry into the server farm a two token process never get addressed. Instead, they keep pushing the flash stuff, and never do anything about the simple things.

    I'll print out the story, and maybe, just possibilly, someone will see that physical security is slightly more important than we've been treating it to date.

    --
    Necessity is the plea for every infringement of human freedom. It is the argument of tyrants; it is the creed of slaves.
  30. Habitat for Humanity by BlueboyX · · Score: 3, Interesting

    I see the same thing in Habitat for Humanity in the US. People steal everything that isn't nailed down, no matter how ugly or worthless it might be. They love to take scafolding. Old, messed up sawhoarses? Gone by the next morning. It's crazy.

    --
    "Never, never suspect the dreams within the dreams of dreaming children." ~The Amazon Quartet
    1. Re:Habitat for Humanity by armb · · Score: 2

      The people stealing the stuff aren't necessarily the same people the homes are being built for, or at least not _all_ for the people the homes are being built for.
      I'd be pissed off too, but it sucks even worse for the people who need the homes and aren't stealing stuff.

      --
      rant
  31. Re:Lesson about crypto? you fuckin fool by Rakarra · · Score: 2

    Ease up, he was just karma whoring.

  32. Guess it's obvious by sharkey · · Score: 2

    The traffic control PCs in Chile do not run Windows. If they did, the theft would have IMPROVED traffic flow. The question is, did they run Linux, BSD or *NIX?

    --

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    "Outlook not so good." That magic 8-ball knows everything! I'll ask about Exchange Server next.
  33. Re:i hope for their sake by M-G · · Score: 2

    Yes! That's exactly what came to mind when I read this. Of course, I just watched it a week ago, so it's pretty fresh in my mind.

    As for the Mini Coopers, don't forget the sewers. Legend has it that during practice runs, one of the drivers managed to do a complete barrel roll, but they were never ever to do it with the cameras running.

    Car people have to watch this movie, although the destruction of the Mini's, a couple of E-Types, and an Aston Martin are a bit painful to watch...