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Hackers Stole 600 Gallons of Gas From Detroit Gas Station, Report Says (gizmodo.com)
Police in Detroit are looking for two suspects who allegedly managed to hack a gas pump and steal over 600 gallons of gasoline, valued at about $1,800. From a report: The theft took place in the middle of the day and went on for about 90 minutes, with the gas station attendant unable to thwart the hackers. The theft, reported by Fox 2 Detroit, took place at around 1pm local time on June 23 at a Marathon gas station located about 15 minutes from downtown Detroit. At least 10 cars are believed to have benefitted from the free-flowing gas pump, which still has police befuddled. Here's what is known about the supposed hack: Per Fox 2 Detroit, the thieves used some sort of remote device that allowed them to hijack the pump and take control away from the gas station employee. Police confirmed to the local publication that the device prevented the clerk from using the gas station's system to shut off the individual pump.
I wager the attendant didn't catch on for a while. Generally nowadays the systems are *supposed* to only dispense if the customer has given payment info or the attendant has turned it on. In fact, most of the time when I go to a gas station now, I've set up payment before I even leave the car and just get out and pump. A station attendant may have a hard time distinguishing someone paying by mobile from someone who made it dispense gasoline otherwise, depending on how it works. Note it says it went on for 90 minutes, then he shut it down, *then* he called police. It also says he "got an emergency kit"., which may have been how he was describing the fuel shut off (his English may not have been the best). Him describing the system being non-responsive doesn't mean he sat there for a long time trying to overcome the situation, it just speaks to his surprise.
XML is like violence. If it doesn't solve the problem, use more.
Shut down the full station just to fix one bad pump?
Yes! If the other option is to let gas free-flow for 90-minutes, then shut down the whole station. Of course! You think the gas station made $1,800 profit on the functioning pumps during that 90-minutes?
He's getting rather old, but he's a good mouse.
The attendant, supervisor or owner park one or more cars to block the pump?
Iâ(TM)m sure he could have walked out with a plastic bag to cover the nossle or a piece of paper taped to the screen saying âoeout of serviceâ well before 90 minutes lapsed. As one person pulls away, be ready. Surely theyâ(TM)d done this sort of thing in the past when a pump was malfunctioning (like this time).
Thirty four characters live here.
That would not surprise me. Off the top of my head, in order of effectiveness:
1) Park your car at the pump in question.
2) Put a "Out of Order" sign on the pump in question. This way, anyone using the pump is obviously in cahoots with the hackers.
3) Master emergency switch. In 90mn, no gas station makes nearly $2,000 pure profit.
4) Call the police... maybe the response time for property crimes is high, but still.
No good deed goes unpunished...
The master on/off switch for my power to my house isn't there to stop a live wire thrown into a bathtub, but if if I had a toaster in the tub, that's the one I'd be using.
You'd need something like 30-40 cars to get 600 gallons. I have had one truck with a 25-gallon tank, but most passenger cars are around 15. (Metric users, 1 gallon is just under 4 L.)
That said, yeah, inside job. An hour and a half? Plenty of time to shut it down.