Exposed SSH Key Means US Emergency Alert System Can Be Hacked

wiredmikey writes "Recently discovered security flaws in the Emergency Alerting System (EAS) which is widely used by TV and radio stations across the United States, has made the systems vulnerable to remote attack. The vulnerability stems from an SSH key that is hard-coded into DASDEC-I and DASDEC-II devices made by Monroe Electronics. Unless the default settings were altered during deployment, impacted systems are using a known key that could enable an attacker with full access if the systems are publicly faced or if they've already compromised the network. By exploiting the vulnerability, an attacker could disrupt a station's ability to transmit and/or could send out false emergency information. 'Earlier this year we were shown an example of an intrusion on the EAS when the Montana Television Network's regular programming was interrupted by news of a zombie apocalypse. Although there was no zombie apocalypse, it did highlight just how vulnerable the system is,' said Mike Davis, a principal research scientist at IOActive. The DHS issued an alert on the vulnerability, and IOActive, the firm that discovered the flaw, has published additional technical details (PDF) on the security issue."

Comments

Hard-Coded?

[drummerboybac]

If the implications are that it can be changed by modifying the default settings, its not really hard-coded, is it ?

Re:Hard-Coded?

[CastrTroy]

There's a hard coded default, and that's bad enough. In order to do stuff like this correctly, the system should not have a default code, and it should not start until a new securely generated key has been created.