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California's Wireless Road Tolls Easily Hackable

Posted by timothy on from the no-sir-I-was-in-seattle-at-the-time dept.

An anonymous reader writes "Nate Lawson, a researcher at RootLabs, has found a way to clone the wireless transponders used by the Bay Area FasTrak road toll system. This means you can copy the ID of another driver onto your own device and, as a result, travel for free while others foot the bill. Lawson also raises the interesting point of using the FasTrak system to create false alibis, by overwriting one's own ID onto another driver's device before committing a crime. Luckily, Lawson wasn't sued before he could reveal his research, unlike those pesky MIT students."

3 of 354 comments (clear)

  1. Not impressed! by bogaboga · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    I am in fact disappointed that we as Americans appear never to ever get it right first time! Things like these should be just routine at this point. From hackable voting machines to tainted vegetables!

    We invented the modern computer and all that goes with it...why do we still make these mistakes? Events like these make embolden proponents of out-sourcing.

    Very sad indeed.

  2. Easy Crime != Justified Crime by Anonymous Coward · · Score: -1, Flamebait

    Yeah, because at a time when our transportation infrastructure is crumbling all to hell, what we really need to do now is defraud the system designed to collect funds to pay for its upkeep.

    Way to stick it to The Man, guys. That will teach them to salt roads and fill potholes!

  3. Re:Cameras at every toll booth by repvik · · Score: 0, Flamebait

    You don't. You wipe off the plates before you enter the road. Being as stupid as what you're projecting should be illegal.

    I'm familiar with conditions similar to what you describe in Anchorage, only with massive snowfall. The police regularly pull over drivers with licence plates obscured, and usually lets them off the hook unless there is visible negligence. When there are extreme conditions, the police are usually aware of this and accounts for it. (Not all officers have it, but there's something called "common sense" which should be applied in situations like those)

    I live in Norway, and during winter it is common for the cars to be completely covered in snow. That does not excuse us from removing the snow/ice covering the plates, nor the windscreen and side windows.