Detroit man steals 800 gallons using Bluetooth to hack gas pumps at station::undefined
So, how would this work exactly? For curiosity's sake.
Not sure about this specific pump but this same thing happened in my town several months back and BT was used then too.
When it happened we found out that the pumps at the station in particular (and probably most) have a BT receiver tied to whatever little processor that runs the pump so either a station manager or someone servicing the pumps can access them with the right equipment, make internal adjustments etc.
In the case that happened locally to us. Someone hacked them the same way, then posted to Facebook and other social media sites to come get some free gas, etc.
All the pumps I've seen have a physical key protecting them too. They're supposed to unlock it in the morning and lock it when staff leave for the night. I'd guess these stations didn't do that?
From everything I know about locks in important places, all pumps probably use the same key. You can probably buy that key online. I know this is true for elevators and those boxes for entering buildings, and Crown Vic police cars (and the taxis they've become after being sold), and many other things.
those boxes for entering buildings
do you mean doors ?
I wish he meant doors 😂
Knox Box maybe
It's a lockbox that is mounted near the door that contains a key to said door or an override used by emergency services such as the fire department. The boxes are all keyed the same.
I can't think of the term for them, but they have a keypad and other buttons to call in and unlock the door, often along with things for postal and emergency services to get in if required.
I don’t know about that part. Just that it was all over the news when it happened here and I later read about the details as to how they did it.
I would have assumed the makers of the pumps would had put into them a little tighter security but then again look at some of these password and other web hacks we routinely see.
You'd be surprised how many times "good enough" is considered "good enough" when it comes to IT and security, even when it's really the bare minimum.
Off topic but the right crowd is here, would anyone be interested in starting a hardware security community? Edit: https://lemmy.world/c/hardwarehacking is live! It's still a work in progress but all are welcome to join.
Be the change you wanna see. If you make it ill join it.
Yeah okay.
My hardware knowledge is limited to ruining many sets of alligator chips trying to dump a virus from an infected UEFI/rewrite the chip so that I'd have a usable motherboard and a nasty virus to poke and prod at.
I guess I've always managed to set an esxi server to route internet traffic through a PC so my IPS can get at it and drop the bad stuff. Still trying to figure out the SIEM piece.
And smart lights / plugs. Many, many many of those.
I've got a decade of experience as an AE in a very techy field though.
If it's a choice between me and a homeless guy then I'm definitely the guy.
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n,o
, 😭 ,
🙄
Was this article written by AI, because it's disjointed as fuck.
I doubt AI would have that poor grammar and spelling.
They asked an intern to rewrite it
That was my thought too
I asked my AI and that was its thought also.
Can't have shit in Detroit… Not even coherent written articles.
This exemplifies Fox - they provided a lengthy article, and a 3 person video with interviews, and yet the listener/reader knows no more about what actually happened than before they began. Its well produced hearsay.
Wait so they haven't caught them yet? The article gave no names. And why do these pumps have Bluetooth? You might as well put in a USB service port.
USB is way safer lol.
Bluetooth is notoriously bad with security. Especially Bluetooth 4 and earlier. I'd put money on a gas station pumps Bluetooth to not be using the most up to date protocol.
It's like saying TCP has bad security. That is to say, pointless comparison. Bluetooth is just transport layer and security is done on higher level. This is most likely the classic example of "security through obscurity". Meaning they did nothing special and hoped no one will figure it out, just like recent TETRA vulnerability.
Come on now! The pumps required you to enter the secret pairing code: “12345”
You fool! It was 00000, now you'll never have free gas!
Transport layer is absolutely a security vulnerability vector.
TCP is absolutely low security if not configured correctly.
I don't know what it is you're trying to say. I agree that this instance was probably security through obscurity failing, but to say that Bluetooth, TCP, and other transport layer protocols are not security considerations is absolutely ridiculous (see for example, heartbleed). It's exactly the reason there are multiple versions of Bluetooth. It's why FTP is (should be) all but deprecated and SFTP and FTPS are standard. It's why Google doesn't index webpages without an SSL certificate.
USB is way safer
Of course wired connection is inherently safer than wireless. There's no question about it. And yes you can absolutely exploit at every layer of communication, but this here is not the case of exploiting Bluetooth as transport layer. It's simply someone not configuring anything or adding any additional verification and just hoping no one finds out.
Okay, but your claim that my comparing Bluetooth to USB being like comparing Bluetooth to TCP is misinformed at best.
At least you can lock a usb port behind an access panel
That guy has saved …… so much money! I’m jealous
Is it really theft? Considering how much of his tax dollars have gone to subsidize the oil and gas industry?
Yes, considering the oil company doesn't own the gas station and still gets paid for the fuel. The person you're stealing from is the owner of the gas station who purchases the fuel and then in many areas sells fuel with very low margin in hopes of you coming into the store for snacks and drinks to make money on higher margin products. So even if they are selling a large amount of fuel, they aren't making a lot of profit to make up for the theft.
Yes
I mean, that already is used to significantly lower at-the-pump gas prices from what they actually are, and raising gas prices is an easy way to lose an election in America, so that probably won't change. Notice that in many other countries gas prices are way higher than in the US.
How much is it in the US right now? In Germany it is around $9 per gallon.
In my area it's around $3.20
Depends on the cost of living and state taxes in an area. Usually it's $3.50-$5.00 a gallon/~4 liters. At the gas stations in Germany on American military bases it's about $4.50 a gallon right now.
arent yall making NEW coal strip mines lol
Good point
User name checks out.
The grammar in this article is horrendous. It’s almost as if Fox isn’t a reputable source for news!
Yeah for one he didn't steal anything, he liberated the refined Dino oil from its underground cage
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4$ per gallon that's approximately 1$ per litre.
I hope it will at least double for you so you know what it's like to pay for petrol in Europe…
I hope it will at least double to shock the system into prioritizing clean energy.
Ah yes, hurt the poor people to make the rich wake up. That'll definitely work!
That's lovely idea but I don't have even money to buy a newly made car. Where I'm supposed to get money for significantly more expensive (price and repair coat) and unreliable electric car? Now I can repair my car on my own cause it's old and easy, also easy to refill. Electric cars is not the way. Also it's not that green as everybody thinks…
The point of expensive fuel is to stop manufacturers from making gas guzzling monstrosities. If fuel was $2 a litre would you be looking for a tiny-penis truck or a more efficient car?
Manufacturers follow the market
I drive around a country the size of Texas in a 1.2 litre hatchback and have no issues with that
So much wrong with this one.
But on the "i can't afford" one. Yes, you might not be able to afford a new electric car. They are a luxury still and will probably stay that until we see enough teslas on the used market.
But you also dont have to buy a new car. if you can not afford your car right now and doubling the gas prices will worsen that condition then something entirely different is wrong.Might be multiple things. Either you are American and you live in a nice-ish house in the suburbs: Your politicians and the car industry have failed you for a long time. I would say go vote but i doubt that even a fully dem senate and ruling party would change a lot.
Might be that you don't earn enough money at all. This one is a bad one, because it means your politicians have failed you deeply. Agin, voting might change it a bit to the better but if you cannot demand a bigger wage to fund your only way to get to work then you're out of luck.Even if you could buy an electric now, it would not save you any money if you don't or can't change something else drastically.
Drive less, earn more, move closer to work if that's even possible.Electric cars will become cheaper and hit the used car market once they become more common.
I'm sorry but I don't want used ev. Battery will be degraded and buying new one is like buying a new cheap petrol car. If you don't buy new one, you'll have a shity range, which is already shity and heavily exaggerated by manufacturers, especially in high and low temps which are for example in Europe where I live almost 50% time of whole year. There is no infrastructure to charge ev cars and it's decades away from being build, especially in my country.
If evs should be reality it has to have range at least 600km in worst temp scenario while being able to charge fully in 15 mins tops.
And even than I wouldn't want it. I wanna have car which I can easily repair myself, without electrical shenanigans and bulshit like changing whole fcking light instead of just bulb, or having to ask to access software of my car, jeez…
I don't want my car to have displays instead of buttons. I don't even understand how that can be legal, when you obviously don't watch the road to adjust fcking air conditioning. Or that stupid hold the line function which has car in my work. You can't even turn that shit off and it steers instead of you. When I overtake a cyclists it's a living nightmare and not talking about state of roads which have like multiples lines over and the cars is fcked.
I'm 29 and I don't want to have over-electroniseid everything…
Europe […] There is no infrastructure to charge ev cars and it's decades away from being build, especially in my country.
Which country is that?
Just the other day I got a taxi trip in a Tesla, with a guy showing photos of how he'd gone from Spain to Ukraine with a bunch of other Tesla taxi drivers to bring back some refugees. That sounds like he could get a recharge, across most of Europe?
Canada just north of the border it's about $1.92/L where I live.
I hope your country multiples in size to match the US and you can see what it's like to have to drive long distances.
They do, it's called the European Union and they have publicly-funded means of transportation through it. They can freely move through the borders of any nation in the Schengen Zone without need of a passport. You can travel through most of Europe by many different means besides automobiles.
Our country is just too stubborn and individualistic to ever elect politicians that would see through the time and money required for the types of projects needed to make the US no longer reliant on cars and trucks. On top of that, it could take decades. Say if we ever did, it would just get shut down when the next conservative blow hard convinces enough people that it isn't worth it.
Long term projects like that just aren't in the cards for the US any more.
Yeah, no shit. Not surprised no one here grasps concepts that aren't spelled out in blinking neon but my comment wasn't glorifying American waste. It was mocking their self-centered and needlessly dickish bs. But go off.
fucking clown 🤡 I just can't aaaaa
Fuck off. I hope the price gets cut in half. It's expensive enough here
You have 3x higher average yearly salary than in the czech republic while having 2x lower price of gas/petrol. And we are considered developed country… You have nothing to complain about. Get yourself 1.2 litre hatchback like I have…
I would ban every engine above 2l in citizen commute cars cause there is no need for more power.
This article has so few details. How do we think they're pulling this off? Phones? A Flipper maybe? And then what?
possession of flippers and 🐬 is illegal and punishable by up to 25 years to life /s adly
Bullshit. The world's a big place and your rules don't apply here
i was being sarcastic man i apologize for not clarifying but im pretty sure its true in a municipality
I was also confused by the commenter waking up on the wrong side of the bed
Lol
Huh? Where?
Some places let you pump THEN pay inside. You could just fill and leave. Is that not basically the same thing? Thay can catch them the same way.
This is every petrol station in Australia, don't think I've every seen anybody do a runner, not like it's hard to catch up
It’s how it used to work in most of the US. Every once in awhile, you’d be in a rough area and have to pay ahead of time but it was rare. When they switched to credit/debit cards, it generally became “Pay inside if you can’t use a card.”
It wasn’t much of a problem even when crime peaked in the U.S. (late 80’s and 90’s) and you could theoretically get away with it. Gas stations have always had security cameras.
Australian pumps all have the capability to pay at the pump.
It's almost always restricted to fleet buyers (taxis, delivery vans, etc). If you're a regular consumer they force you walk past a tasty array of chocolates and other addictive high margin products before you're allowed to pay. They even give you a a couple bucks off your gas if you spend ten bucks on chocolate.
Sold! Lol, I'm just that into chocolate.
I'm sure I've seen ads at the pump to pay with apps though?
This is very much the default in the Netherlands. Yes theft happens, but your license plate will be clearly visibly on CCTV meaning you will get a visit by police soon after.
Yeh, thinking the same thing. The reg is what gives it away.
Why is that even possible?
Because people think security and privacy are a joke, and it’s times like this where it shows.
Is that the Polish train thing where you can literally send an emergency stop command with a walkie talkie?
That is funny lol but annoying for the passengers
Yeah.
Annoying for NATO, moving supplies to Ukraine through Poland, too.
Here is an alternative Piped link(s):
Piped is a privacy-respecting open-source alternative frontend to YouTube.
I'm open-source; check me out at GitHub.
Hardware security is still overlooked a lot in the tech industry, hence there are a ton of hardware and mechanical stuff out there that are made “smarter” but still barely have any security controls. That’s why there’s the saying “The S in IoT stands for security”. Bluetooth in itself is not secure, and they probably have a very basic control where the pump is unlocked remotely via a bluetooth device.
I very distinctly remember early bluetooth amongst other interfaces explicitly discussed in college as an example of "enabling things to understand eachother, including things that shouldn't." It's up to the developer to protect their data.
There is a problem here that isn't just a hardware/software issue, it's a "I'm not gonna worry about it" problem that leads to security issues.
That's a lot…
He were thirsty
