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Roadside Cameras Infected with WannaCry Virus Invalidate 8,000 Traffic Tickets (yahoo.com)
Long-time Slashdot reader nri tipped us off to a developing story in Victoria, Australia. Yahoo News reports:
Victoria Police officials announced on Saturday, June 24, they were withdrawing all speed camera infringement notices issued statewide from June 6 after a virus in the cameras turned out to be more widespread than first thought. "That does not mean they [the infringement notices] won't not be re-issued," Assistant Commissioner Doug Fryer told reporters, explaining that he wants to be sure the red light and speed cameras were working correctly. Acting Deputy Commissioner Ross Guenther told reporters on Friday that 55 cameras had been exposed to the ransomware virus, but they've now determined 280 cameras had been exposed. The cameras are not connected to the internet, but a maintenance worker unwittingly connected a USB stick with the virus on it to the camera system on June 6.
Fryer said that about 1643 tickets would be withdrawn -- up from the 590 that police had announced on Friday -- and another five and a half thousand tickets pending in the system would be embargoed. Fryer said he was optimistic the 7500 to 8000 tickets affected could be re-issued, but for now police would not issue new tickets until police had reviewed the cameras to ensure they were functioning properly... The "WannaCry" malware caused the cameras to continually reboot, Fryer said. Fryer said there was no indication the malware had caused inaccurate radar readings, but police were being "over cautious" to maintain public faith in the system.
Last week Victoria's Police Minister was "openly furious" with the private camera operator, saying the group hadn't notified the relevant authorities about the infection.
Fryer said that about 1643 tickets would be withdrawn -- up from the 590 that police had announced on Friday -- and another five and a half thousand tickets pending in the system would be embargoed. Fryer said he was optimistic the 7500 to 8000 tickets affected could be re-issued, but for now police would not issue new tickets until police had reviewed the cameras to ensure they were functioning properly... The "WannaCry" malware caused the cameras to continually reboot, Fryer said. Fryer said there was no indication the malware had caused inaccurate radar readings, but police were being "over cautious" to maintain public faith in the system.
Last week Victoria's Police Minister was "openly furious" with the private camera operator, saying the group hadn't notified the relevant authorities about the infection.
The bad guys accidentally did society a favor.
This makes me happy. :-)
They really do speak the Queen's English down there.
Only the State obtains its revenue by coercion. - Murray Rothbard
to cut taxes. Local governments have to scrap for every penny and resort to crap like this. I don't think you'll find any honest traffic engineer who says these things make the world safer. If you want safe make the yellow longer. Problem solved.
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LOL. Once again the government outsourcing their responsibility to private operators turns out to be (yet) another million dollar mistake, fully funded by the taxpayer. Except in this instance, it's not an expense, rather a lack of revenue, and no one is crying because we all know in Victoria cameras are revenue machines, not road rule enforcement/deterrent. That's why most of them are on straight sections of highway with limits of 100kph or more.
I reckon they should 'fine' the operator their commission for the year.
Commission? Yes, commission; the operator gets a slice of each ticket issued.
You think that makes them do their utmost to issue as many tickets as possible? You bet, about $1bn worth every year.
Dan. -- So what if it's spelt wrong, nobody's perfect
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