So why the fuss over the MIT student presentation that “never was” at Defcon? Why the court order barring them from speaking AFTER the presentation had been handed out to 7000 or so attendees and had been available on an MIT website for several months?
Well, money. MBTA is drowning in red ink.
From The Boston Globe:
Strapped with an $8.1 billion debt, the MBTA can’t afford expensive upgrades to its automated fare equipment. That may explain, in part, why the transit agency put such extraordinary legal pressure on three MIT students who claim to have found a way to hack into the transit system’s $180 million automated fare system. But trotting out the lawyers didn’t make the T less vulnerable to future hackers.
Well, the gag order has been lifted. Which, in all fairness, should never had been in place to start with.
The MIFARE wireless chips are popping up in transit systems all over the place. Case in point, in the greater Toronto area (GTA) an amalgamated transit card is being rolled out that will provide users the ability to travel several systems on one card. London’s implementation of Mifare technology has been less than stellar.
Our own Myrcurial attempted to contact the Prestocard folks about the Mifare technology at the beginning of July but, he was given the Heisman (a “straight arm” for the non-sports inclined). So, is the Presto Card headed for an epic failure? We’ll have to wait and see.
[tags]MBTA, Charlie Card, MIT Hackers[/tags]