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FBI Nabs Chicago Transit Authority Radio Hacker
Wh15per writes "The Chicago FBI Joint Terrorism Task Force arrested an individual for misusing Chicago Transit Authority radio systems. Marcel Carter, 20, is charged with violating a US code that forbids interference with transportation operators. A federal complaint alleges he began using a radio to transmit on CTA frequencies in June 2008, often interjecting comments during communications between the agency's control center and train operators. The CTA claims Carter's radio communications were never followed, and passengers were never in danger."
See, there is some good news occasionally.
Oh, and can we reserve use of the term "hacker" for someone with at least a modicum of technical skills? This guy isn't even a cracker. All he did was talk on a stolen radio.
FTFA: "interfering with the operation of a mass transportation vehicle, a felony under the USA PATRIOT Act."
Yelling at a bus driver? Felony
Leaning in front of an oncoming train? Felony
Talking on the transit radio band? Felony
Putting pennies on train tracks? Felony
Somehow, my youth was filled with felonious behavior. Perhaps the Homeland needs securing from scamps like me.
In a previous life, I was an air traffic controller. For about a month, we had a moron that was transmitting on ATC frequencies, trying to give or override control instructions. Since he didn't have a good grasp of ATC phraseology, he was easy to ignore. But he did succeed in causing quite a bit of frequency interference: ATC still operates on AM, so there is no "capture" effect as with FM, where the strongest station overrides weaker stations. Simultaneous transmissions are garbled, so "Say again" becomes a very automatic response in those situations (hell, I still use that phrase today...old habits die hard).
My point here is that I do not see a reason why public transportation systems still rely on decades-old, non-encrypted technology. With ATC, it's a trivial matter of ordering a handheld on-line that is capable of transmitting on all ATC freqs. Agencies that continue to rely on antiquated systems deserve part of the blame.
A simple answer is that it isn't much of a problem (how many deadly incidents have there been in the last decade?) and there are thousands of radios.
Nerd rage is the funniest rage.
Up next, Man hacks face by growing a beard.
This guy would also would have been wise to stand close to a station and transmit at .05mw, greatly lessening the chances of control hearing him. Also would have helped to learn the lingo before jumping the gun. It's a good thing that a skilled soul didn't possess the radio.
There's other talk about the ATC issue, but that's harder to solve. CTA should move to encrypted radios. You can't really use that as an option for ATC as train drivers are a limited pool, whereas ATC frequencies are used by anybody flying a plane.
Oh, and attempting to issue orders to trains that may result in lethal collisions deserves a felony. Chicago deserves only bad press, and hopefully a budget line item for better comms. Much nicer than seeing somebody setup for a decade for screwing with an X-Box.
Well, partly because if you upgrade all aviation comms to encrypted radios, then every pilot would need to go out and upgrade their equipment to an encrypted unit. Which then means that encrypted radios need to become readily available for every pilot and/or A&P mechanic to purchase, which means every Tom, Dick, and Harry can walk into Ye Olde Pilot Shoppe and buy one, which means that said Tom, Dick, or Harry can then carry on with their mischief. You'd in essence be forcing everyone in the Aviation field who uses comms for anything to upgrade their gear and not improving anything as a result.
Now, with a closed-loop internal system like bus and train, I see your point. You have a fixed number of authorized users, and life is good. Mischief would be limited to a hacker who has the time and resources to monitor the frequencies long enough to break the encryption (which wouldn't be terribly long, since all the radios would have to use the same encryption keys, but at least the infantile idiots who buy a GPRS radio at WalMart and have trouble inserting the batteries properly would be excluded - so when someone DOES break in they'll celebrate their achievement by something more sophisticated than yelling "AFLAC" in a falsetto duck voice every ten seconds).
I don't know how much more encrypted radios are, but I'm assuming it's more of a budget issue than a technological one, and the very real possibility that the system can be broken anyway. Heck, I'd think using the cellular network would give them more secure communications with better voice quality and less need to maintain expensive radio towers. But that's point-to-point communications and not broadcast like a radio would be (which means a switch operator can't get on a radio and yell that anyone approaching switch XYZ had better stop right now or risk a crash, for example).
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
-Talking out of turn...that's a paddling. Looking out the window...that's a paddling. Staring at my sandals...that's a paddling. Paddling the school canoe...ooh, you better believe that's a paddling
Jasper.
The Kruger Dunning explains most post on
No, many planes are equipped with multiple radios (for backup or simply to be able to switch frequencies quickly) anyway.
The real issues are threefold:
1. Money: Encrypted radios cost, and there are a LOT of the old AM-band radios out there that would need to be replaced. Most planes have one, and most pilots carry at least one handheld for emergency backup and to get ATIS and just to monitor the frequency while they are preflighting to get an idea of what traffic is like, etc.
2. Range: With an AM, unencrypted radio, you can lose a surprising amount of signal and still make out what the person on the other end is saying. Once you encrypt the signal, your signal has to be pretty close to perfect or the decryption doesn't work. So you either just cost radios serious amounts of range, or you have to find a new frequency band where more information can be packed into the same frequency and you have more discrete frequencies to ensure a clear transmission free of interference.
3. Security: In order to use them, pilots will need to purchase them. So every pilot shop is going to need to offer these radios for easy sale. If pilots can buy them, so can other people, unless you want to get into a registration system as complex and useless as a gun ownership database. Then, of course, you can't really issue unique encryption keys to each radio because registering them is going to require a hellishly complex system. So you'll end up with something that is easily replicated and easily acquired, and therefore offers no real security.
"This post contains words, known to the State of California to cause thought. Wash brain thoroughly after reading."
Who is about to get pwnt by the full weight of the post 9/11 hysteria.
Throw in a healthy dollop of "omg there have been numerous subway accidents recently" and he's screwed.
He was formally charged Monday with knowingly interfering with the operation of a mass transportation vehicle, a felony under the USA PATRIOT Act.
The FBI's Joint Terrorism Task Force has been investigating the case for more than a year...
...
If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in jail and a 200,000 fine.
One would have thought that this would be a case for the FCC and the Chicago Transit Police.
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