You've seen it done successfully in various series and movies – most notably The Italian Job. Hacking traffic lights is a topic that raises a lot of discussion about whether it is possible to do it and if so, to what extent. That's what Argentine Cesar Cerrudo, a security analyst at IoActive and… by investing a few thousand dollars, he said he would hack the US road network!
The guy, you know, this Argentine Cesar Cerrudo, first found the company that deals with traffic lights in the US: it's Sensys, whose systems are installed in 40 states – plus nine other countries, including France, the United Kingdom, China and Canada. Without going into crazy technical details, Cerrudo discovered that Sensys lack basic security measures such as encryption and authentication, and although a hacker wouldn't be able to gain direct access to them, he would still be able to trick them by feeding them incorrect information.
Cerrudo even wrote to the relevant authorities about the security gap, which Sensys was also informed about, but no one seemed to care. So, the guy ordered an access point from the company for $4,000 (and although these are not available to the public, with a lot of… bit by bit he managed to snag one and send it to Puerto Rico and from there to Argentina, where he was based), put it in the back of his car and… it went haywire in the US! tool was compatible with all of the company's sensors , not only in the US but worldwide, so as he drove around carefree, he could very well be filling the traffic lights with incorrect information.
As he points out on his blog, a malicious person who did something similar could wreak havoc on the streets of a city, since they would de-synchronize traffic lights, could send cars in any direction they wanted, cause traffic accidents and, most importantly, prevent fire engines, ambulances and police from reaching their destinations as quickly as possible. If you're interested in Cerrudo's exact method in all its details, check out our sources below.
The comforting thing is that this news does not concern us in Greece. How much more uncoordinated can the traffic lights become...?
Source: digitallife.gr
