I can take control of traffic lights, hacker tells New York and Shropshire
It is Big Brother on a global scale – a computer hacker who says he has shown how someone thousands of miles away could control traffic lights in New York, London. . . and Shropshire.
Cesar Cerrudo, an Argentinian security researcher, claims to have uncovered a major flaw in global traffic systems.
He discovered it is possible to control the sensors embedded into the road and used by control systems to monitor traffic.
He was able to take control of the sensors – Sensys Networks VDS240 wireless vehicle detection systems – which are installed in 40 US cities, including San Francisco, Los Angeles, New York City, Washington, DC.
The system is also used in nine other countries, including the UK, where it is used to control traffic flows in areas of Shropshire.
Mr Cerrudo says he was inspired by the movie Die Hard, which sees hackers controlling a city's traffic. Probably many of you have watched scenes from Die Hard 4 where hackers manipulate traffic signals by just hitting Enter or typing a few keys," he wrote in a blog post revealing the hack.
"I wanted to do that. I started to look around, and while I couldn't exactly do the same thing, I got pretty close.
'By exploiting the vulnerabilities I found, an attacker could cause traffic jams and problems at intersections, freeways and highways."
Mr Cerrudo said that once he bought a sensor for himself, he found it was relatively easy to control.
"After getting the devices, it wasn't difficult to find vulnerabilities.
"The vulnerabilities I found allow anyone to take complete control of the devices and send fake data to traffic control systems.
"Basically anyone could cause a traffic mess by launching an attack with a simple exploit programmed on cheap hardware, for less than $100. It is is crazy, because while the devices don't directly control traffic control systems, they have a direct influence on the actions and decisions of these systems."
He says he will now reveal details of the hack at a conference next month after the firm Sensys Networks failed to address the problem. The system is used in areas of Shropshire to alter traffic lights to reflect traffic flows.
