Sexy headline. Cool sounding story. The bait is set. Now just to reel me in…
From Wired:
More than 100 drivers in Austin, Texas found their cars disabled or the horns honking out of control, after an intruder ran amok in a web-based vehicle-immobilization system normally used to get the attention of consumers delinquent in their auto payments.
Police with Austin’s High Tech Crime Unit on Wednesday arrested 20-year-old Omar Ramos-Lopez, a former Texas Auto Center employee who was laid off last month, and allegedly sought revenge by bricking the cars sold from the dealership’s four Austin-area lots.
OK, that sounds interesting. I wonder how Ramos-Lopez managed to pull this one off. Could have been a zero day? Some sort of system compromise? System breach using malware?
The troubles stopped five days later, when Texas Auto Center reset the Webtech Plus passwords for all its employee accounts,
Wait, what?
Ramos-Lopez’s account had been closed when he was terminated from Texas Auto Center in a workforce reduction last month, but he allegedly got in through another employee’s account,
He had a password? Since when does that qualify as a “hacker”?
“Omar was pretty good with computers,†says Garcia.
Apparently. Who knew that a little knowledge (ie. password) and a browser could be so powerful.
Sarcasm off. Clarity when dealing with terms is always something to behold. Was this a crime? Yes. Was he a hacker? Hell no.
(Image used under CC from nolifebeforecoffee)