Contactless Smart Cards, RFID, Payment, Transit and Security

Federal judge prevents MIT students from presenting transit hack

Monday, August 11, 2008

Three MIT students were scheduled to give a presentation Sunday that would show attendees who to hack the CharlieCard, the contactless smart cart issued by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority and used on the Boston T subway line.

But U.S. District Judge Douglas Woodlock issued an injunction that prevented the student from giving the presentation at the Defcon hackers conference in Las Vegas, according to a report on CNet.com. The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which is representing the students, is appealing the ruling.

Last month semiconductor manufacturer NXP sued Dutch university students to prevent them from releasing research about their hack of the company’s MIFARE cards. The judge dismissed the case and the hack will be released soon. The CharlieCard uses MIFARE Classic cards from NXP, which has been compromised by more than one researcher.

Even though the injunction was issued Saturday against the students, conference attendees received a copy of the presentation on a CD. The disks were distributed to attendees on Thursday.

Read more here. [end] 

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