Judge Rules In Favor of Volkswagen and Silences Scientist

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Judge Rules In Favor of Volkswagen and Silences Scientist

Posted by samzenpus on Monday July 29, 2013 @07:56AM from the keep-your-mouth-shut dept.

sl4shd0rk writes "Samsung-is-not-as-cool-as-Apple Judge Colin Birss, rules in favor of Volkswagon to ban Flavio Garcia, a computer scientist, from revealing details about 'Wirelessly Lockpicking a Vehicle Immobiliser' at USENIX in August. Volkswagen says the flaw could allow someone to 'break the security and steal a car' so it is justifiable grounds for blocking Flavio's paper. No word yet on how soon Volkswagen will have a patch."

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If hacking is outlawed by i+kan+reed · 2013-07-29 07:58 · Score: 5, Insightful

Only outlaws will have hackers, or something. It really doesn't work that way, but the protection of rich people's cars will only be temporary.
This is why we have a first amendment. by h4rr4r · 2013-07-29 08:00 · Score: 5, Insightful

The cars are vulnerable if he tells the world or not. The only difference is now only the bad actors know about the problem.
He should have disclosed without notifying. That way they could not have stopped him.
1. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by simonbp · 2013-07-29 08:03 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  And now that is know that this specific vulnerability exists, it's relatively trivial for someone to repeat Garcia's work and publish it.
2. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by Stumbles · 2013-07-29 08:06 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  The Streisand effect strikes again. They will never learn.
  
  --
  My karma is not a Chameleon.
3. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by h4rr4r · 2013-07-29 08:11 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Sure, this is why we have one though. Our founding fathers knew not having one was too dangerous.
4. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by steelfood · 2013-07-29 08:12 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  Nah, that'd be unreasonable. What would be more reasonable is that now that Volkswagon is known to not act in good faith (i.e. lawsuit ensue) after an act of responsible disclosure, there's no good reason to first notify them about any subsequent security holes.
  
  --
  "If a nation expects to be ignorant and free in a state of civilization, it expects what never was and never will be."
5. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-29 08:28 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  You also have secret courts...
6. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by Samantha+Wright · 2013-07-29 08:30 · Score: 5, Insightful
  
  cultivat8 posted instructions a few minutes before you made your post, so that cat's out of the bag. Now the only value this suppression serves is in protecting the ignorance of people who are in danger; the car company saves a bit of face with its less-aware customers and investors, and that's about it.
  
  --
  Bio questions? Ask me to start a Q&A journal. Computer analogies available for most topics!
7. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by mikeiver1 · 2013-07-29 08:49 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  I suspect that the hack is rather simple and you can be very secure in the knowledge that there are now like a dozen plus persons looking very hard at their key controls with an eye at releasing the hack to simply screw VW for the snub. Fallout be damned. On the other side of it you can not tell me that VW didn't know that they had a security issue and simply waited to fix it because it might cost a few dollars or euros or what ever. Screw the customer for the buck.
8. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by lightknight · 2013-07-29 09:32 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Perhaps, but for someone who wants to yank thirty or forty cars off the street, with minimal risk, it might be worth a modest investment.
  You'd need what, an electron microscope, some custom software to trace the images you scan and convert them back to logic, then someone to write an app / engineer some hardware to make it trivial for you to grab anything you want. Assuming you are grabbing thirty new VWs, at $20K / pop...that's $600K...so, the cost of an electron microscope (may or may not be costly...might get a second-hand one for cheap), and an Electrical Engineer @ 120K + Computer Scientist / Software Engineer @ 120K (so they'll actually do the work, keep their mouths shut, and provide 'updates' to the software / hardware they design at an agreeable rate, since 30-40 cars might easily become 3000-4000 cars provided you don't act like a Mafia-Don and try to kill the wrong people / short the wrong people ("Hey, they did the job; now let's double-cross them, and whack them, so we can keep their share, and they can't tell anyone..." -> Hollywood derp -> Good people are hard to come by, and even harder to replace); I say updates, because the car companies will begin changing stuff as soon as they hear that their cars are getting snatched, and updates are cheaper with people you know, who are 'happy' with you, than people who are PO'ed at you, or are dead).
  Still, it seems a lot of work for little cash. Now, getting elected to the Board of Governors for the Federal Reserve...well, they can just print money when they need a little more. Now that's thinking with your head.
  
  --
  I am John Hurt.
9. Re:This is why we have a first amendment. by SLi · 2013-07-29 20:39 · Score: 3, Insightful
  
  Yeah, I'm sure nothing like this could ever happen in the US due to your ah-so-fantastic First Amendment.
  That case, by the way, is very close to this one. MBTA was granted a Temporary Restraining Order that prevented the researchers from discussing their findings in the conference where they intended to do it. Which is *exactly* what has happened here so far.
Solution timetable by spire3661 · 2013-07-29 08:00 · Score: 4, Insightful

Shouldnt Volkswagen be forced to provide a timetable as to when this will be fixed so the temporary egregious act of suspending the First for this person can be lifted? It is Volkswagen's fault, they need to fix it now.

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Good-bye
1. Re:Solution timetable by bill_mcgonigle · 2013-07-29 08:13 · Score: 4, Insightful
  
  Suspending the first... amendment? This didn't happen in the USA.
  And the presentation will likely go forward at USENIX (in Washington DC) with the other two co-authors, from the Netherlands. It's one researcher in the UK who's getting boned by his government.
  
  --
  My God, it's Full of Source!
  OUTSIDE_IP=$(dig +short my.ip @outsideip.net)
2. Re:Solution timetable by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-29 09:38 · Score: 2, Insightful
  
  That's not a crypto flaw, that's a logic flaw. You can't give someone an encrypted message and the key to decrypt it, and then expect that there's a way to prevent them from decrypting the content. It's just not possible.
When will Volkswagon fix the issue? by tysonedwards · 2013-07-29 08:03 · Score: 4, Insightful

For vehicles that have already been sold, I'd venture a guess somewhere between when the sun burns out and never.

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Thirty four characters live here.
The moral of this story is. . . . by Anonymous Coward · 2013-07-29 08:27 · Score: 2, Insightful

" He should have disclosed without notifying. That way they could not have stopped him. "
BINGO.
Quit trying to give the manufacturers / developers the benefit of the doubt here. Time and time again it's obvious they're not interested in doing the right thing, but rather resorting to litigation to shut people up about critical flaws in their product. I know it's bragging rights and all that, but you really should keep your mouth shut until AFTER you've made the disclosure public.
Unless they're paying $$$ for said bug reports, then it's your call to consider if they can buy off your silence or not. I know what the moral thing to do is, but your financial situation may inject some additional considerations into the matter.