Aug 11, 2008 12:34
A trio of MIT students planned to talk about the Boston subway's inherent problems with its payment card system, but an injunction took their presentation off the Defcon slate of topics.<br><br>It seems like an annual event in the world of security conferences. A high-profile enterprise catches wind of a proposed talk about vulnerabilities in their services, and they race to the courtroom to stop the presentation.<br /><br />Conferences like Black Hat and Defcon virtually court that kind of response through the nature of their content and audience. The latest kerfuffle stems from Massachusetts, where a group of MIT students <a href=http://defcon.org/html/defcon-16/dc-16-speakers.html#Anderson>planned to discuss breaking the smartcard used for subway payment systems.<br /><br />Boston is among several places using the particular card, and the prospect of being the topic of conversation alarmed city subway officials. <a href=http://www.theregister.co.uk/2008/08/09/defcon_talk_halted/>The Register noted the filing of an injunction to halt the talk.<br /><br />The effect of the lawsuit, which included a request to stop the speakers from suggesting the security of the payment system was insecure, essentially ensured plenty of people would learn exactly that about the CharlieCard. <br /><br />As The Register noted, attorneys for the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority helpfully <a href=http://blog.wired.com/27bstroke6/files/vulnerability_assessment_of_the_mtba_system.pdf>tacked on an overview of how the CharlieCard can be forged or cloned. The students also planned to discuss how to mitigate such problems.<br /><br />MBTA's lawsuit smacks more of ego and embarrassment than of actual concern about security issues. Discussions between the students, their instructor, and the MBTA last week failed to find a compromise; all MBTA accomplished was gaining more publicity for issues that need to be fixed.<br><br><center><a href="http://aj.600z.com/aj/9395/0/ccz=1&pos=1"><img src="http://aj.600z.com/aj/9395/0/vcz=1&dim=9392&pos=1" height="75" border="0"><div class="feedflare"><a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecuritya=kmd60K"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecurityi=kmd60K" border="0"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecuritya=K7eoPK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecurityi=K7eoPK" border="0"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecuritya=vGuJeK"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecurityi=vGuJeK" border="0"> <a href="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecuritya=Smpf4K"><img src="http://feeds.feedburner.com/~f/SecurityProNews/internetsecurityi=Smpf4K" border="0">
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