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Hackers Get Free Parking In San Francisco
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."
It's California, after all. The land of milk and honey. Only rich people live there, as proven by the ready availability of free health care and free education for illegal immigrants and illegal migrant workers. Not to mention free legal services for those illegals who are to stupid to stay underground, and obey other laws. Nothing to worry about.
If stuff like this really bothers you, get involved with the idiots who run your government, and hold them accountable. Tell them that you want the old fashioned meters back, that took quarters and dimes to operate. There never was any widespread abuse of them, because they WORK. There was no need to spend however many zillion dollars to upgrade to insecure networked card reading meters.
"Windows is like the faint smell of piss in a subway: it's there, and there's nothing you can do about it." - Charlie Br
And people wonder why California is going bankrupt?
I hope the "black-hat hackers" that are stealing city funds by not paying the parking meter also do not expect the state to also pay for things like health care.
A few people getting free parking is one thing, but giving out an instruction manual which may result in lots of revenue being taken away from the city is another.