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Oyster Card Hack To Be Released, In Good Time

Posted by timothy on from the crackers-don't-follow-injunctions dept.

DangerFace writes "A little while ago some Dutch researchers cracked the Oyster card, meaning they could get free public transport around London. The company that makes the cards, NXP, sought and got an injunction to stop the exploit being published, but that has now been overruled by a Dutch judge. The lovely Dutch blokes are holding off from releasing the hack for the time being, to give NXP time to secure their systems."

6 of 246 comments (clear)

  1. Not just Oyster by jnik · · Score: 5, Informative

    According to Wikipedia, the same tech is used by Atlanta, DC Metro, the L, and the T.

  2. Re:Their paper has leaked by quarrel · · Score: 5, Informative

    To quote from the paper you linked:

    "
    This paper is not the same as the paper that is subject to a lawsuit by NXP. It is available on the web since several months and will be published officially in the proceedings of the Cardis'08 conference in september. The paper of the lawsuit builds on it.
    "

    So while related, it is different for some value of different..

    --Q

  3. Re:You mean... by iworm · · Score: 4, Informative

    ...and as the EX-mayor of London, why would he care?

  4. Re:let em release it by defnoz · · Score: 4, Informative

    You've obviously never been anywhere else in the UK. London's bus fares are very cheap, and saying the routes are 1/4 the length is just FUD - even if you do have to get 4 buses, it won't cost 4x as much, since a daily fare is capped at £3 (i.e. once you've made 3 journeys you don't pay any more that day). If I want the same here in Oxford it would cost me well over £10 ($20). ...oh, and why exactly would you *expect* having a complicated mess of privatised companies to be any cheaper than one company which is accountable to the public, not it's shareholders?

  5. Re:Poor guys.. by iwein · · Score: 4, Informative

    Actually the Dutch public transportation was supposed to have the same system nation wide, but they researched it first, and postponed the implementation when they found the security leaks. It's called "OV chipkaart" and it is annoying Dutch travelers since 2006. Here is the (dutch) link: http://www.ov-chipkaart.nl/nieuws/nieuwsoverzicht/34971111.

    --
    Show a man some news, distract him for an hour. Show a man some mod points, distract him for the rest of his life.
  6. Re:Why yes, they do by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 4, Informative

    "If you take a walk, they'll tax your feet"
    Harrison