9/06/2008

Hacking the Double Tax

Road Tolls Hacked

A researcher claims that toll transponders can
be cloned, allowing drivers to pass for free.


By Duncan Graham-Rowe, Technology Review


Drivers using the automated FasTrak toll system on roads and bridges in California's Bay Area could be vulnerable to fraud, according to a computer security firm in Oakland, CA.

Despite previous reassurances about the security of the system, Nate Lawson of Root Labs claims that the unique identity numbers used to identify the FasTrak wireless transponders carried in cars can be copied or overwritten with relative ease.

This means that fraudsters could clone transponders, says Lawson, by copying the ID of another driver onto their device. As a result, they could travel for free while others unwittingly foot the bill. "It's trivial to clone a device," Lawson says. "In fact, I have several clones with my own ID already."

Read the whole article HERE.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

would be cool if everyone did this in austin as a protest.

Anonymous said...

We could only hope it happens to the double tax trolls in and around Austin. It serves the TURD BRAINS right.

Anonymous said...

Did you 2 previous commenters even read the article?

The toll system wouldn't lose money. The IDs of the victim's tag are stolen so they are still billed. The victim would be dragged through the mud trying to prove to the tolling agency that it wasn't really their tag. It could take years (and is highly unlikely) for victims to be identified and for a toll agency to be forced to refund any money.

The only people this hurts are the people who's ID is stolen.

If you want to protest at least be intelligent about it and don't make toll opponents look stupid.

Anonymous said...

The tax payer is to have an alternative route to the toll road. So far TXDOT has designed it in a way where the tax payer is inconvinienced at the alternative route. The alternative route has too many stop signs, lights, and deviation from point A to point B.