Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

Hackers Get Free Parking In San Francisco

Posted by timothy on from the usually-spots-at-the-end-of-the-judah-line dept.

Hugh Pickens writes "PC World reports that at the Black Hat security conference this week, security researchers say that it is pretty easy for a technically savvy hacker to make a fake payment card that gives them unlimited free parking on San Francisco's smart parking meter system. 'It wasn't technically complicated and the fact that I can do it in three days means that other people are probably already doing it and probably taking advantage of it,' says Joe Grand. 'It seems like the system wasn't analyzed at all.' To figure out how the payment system worked, Grand hooked up an oscilloscope to a parking meter and monitored what happened when he used a genuine payment card. Grand discovered the cards aren't digitally signed, and the only authentication between the meter and card is a password sent from the former to the latter. Examining the meters themselves could yield additional vulnerabilities that might allow someone to conduct other kinds of attacks, such as propagating a virus from meter to meter via the smart cards or a meter minder's PDA."

2 of 221 comments (clear)

  1. l0pht by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Informative

    For reference, Joe Grand is one of the members of the l0pht hacker group that were announced to be making a comeback [url=http://news.slashdot.org/story/09/07/26/167251/Hacker-Group-L0pht-Making-a-Comeback?art_pos=1]here[/url]

  2. Re:Parking Meter Botnet by xaxa · · Score: 5, Informative

    what was wrong with coin operated meters? Why do they need computers?

    Crimanal gangs target coin operated metres. For instance, "Cashless parking was trialled in Westminster [London] in October 2006 and in early 2007 the decision was taken to extend cashless parking city [of Westminster] wide. One of the primary drivers was the estimated £120,000 per week being lost to organised crime. Organised crime which led to murder on the streets of Westminster." (The murder was after one gang started taking the money from meters in another gang's "territory").

    A metal detector under the parking space and a camera nearby, and the computer could automatically issue a ticket (or automatically bill for the correct duration). And tell drivers how many spaces are available.