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Comment by wepple | Hacker News Reader

I'd hazard a guess that unless the vendor can provide over-the-air updates and every system which plugs into these telematics units can also be easily upgradeable to incorporate the new added auth functionality, it might be better just to make everyone aware of the issue?

Ultimately this blog post doesn't describe any rocket science at all: anyone wanting to cause trouble on the internet is well aware of Shodanning for exposed ICS systems that fail to even implement authentication.

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I'd be pretty wary of pushing information like this out in the open without first making sure the vendor had time to alert their customers that his is about to hit the streets. Who knows what kind of vehicles we're talking about and under what conditions they operate. Of course it isn't rocket science, but that doesn't mean you need to advance your stature in the security community by blindsiding some manufacturer on Sunday evening.

Anyway, call me old-fashioned, I don't think this is the way it should be done.

FWIW I'm aware of a SCADA system that is widely deployed that is just about as secure as this system here and I'd be the last person on the planet to publish the details of it because I know for a fact that it is used to control HVAC equipment and other building infrastructure in hospitals and prisons. These things are not toys and being aware of them does not actually allow you to play god. (In that particular case as far as I know the systems are so old that fixing them with an update is not even an option).

Would it be "ethical hacking" to DDOS any website hosting or linking to this article?

No, of course it wouldn't be.

Are you unsure of the answer?

It's a thought question.

If releasing irresponsibly a vulnerability puts people in real danger, is it worth it to suppress the release of that vulnerability?

I think you might be late to the party. It's widely known that these systems don't have any kind of security at all. The potential criminals already had this information for a long time.

> I'm aware of a SCADA system that is widely deployed that is just about as secure as this system

Yes, you and a cool bunch of Chinese and Russian government-hired hackers, too.

The SCADA System or the underlying protocol?IEC6180(Layer2 Goose)or DNP3 dont define any auth or securtiy while OPC_UA does.

> unless the vendor can provide over-the-air updates

http://www.neweagle.net/ProductDocumentation/Telematics/Tele... mentions "Remote Flashing" so I guess they fix that.

Well the OP includes details of commands that can be sent including "update" so perhaps someone has already updated all of them to add a backdoor.

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