MBTA drops suit against MIT train HACKERS

The Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority (MBTA) has dropped its federal situation against three MIT researchers, “the train hackers”. This occurred in October as well as now the EFF brings news that the trainees will be working with the MBTA to enhance their system. The general goal is to raise safety and security while keeping costs minimal.

This whole mess started in August when a gag purchase was issued against the students’ presentation at Defcon. It’s a pity nobody ever saw it since it covers a great deal of fascinating ground. A PDF of the banned slides is still online. They carried out a number of attacks against both the subway’s fare system as well as physical security. Our favorites by far were utilizing GNU Radio to sniff the RFID card’s deal as well as bruteforcing Mifare traditional with an FPGA.