or... they may not. ;-) On Thu, Apr 3, 2008 at 3:37 PM, Tony Cooper <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> wrote:
> This has the potential to be worst then traffic cameras or onstar! > > http://www.hexview.com/sdp/node/44/ > > Spy My Ride: Somebody may be tracking your vehicle and you don't know > about it! > > New technologies always come with privacy issues > > There is no shortage of articles discussing privacy issues introduced by > new technologies. ReadID, passports, chips in currency bills, and other > engineering marvels designed for purposes of tracking and monitoring, > always come with a bouquet of questions and privacy concerns. On the other > hand, technologies not specifically designed for monitoring can sometimes > be used for this very purpose and privacy problems introduced by them are > often overlooked. Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems (TPMS) is one of those > technologies. > > What is TPMS? > > TPMS lets on-board vehicle computers measure air pressure in the tires. If > you purchased a new vehicle in the last 2 years, it is very likely that it > came with TPMS. If you live in the Unites States, your next vehicle will > contain TPMS whether you like or not -- in April 2005, National Highway > Traffic Safety Administration issued a rule requiring automakers to > install TPMS sensors in all new passenger cars and trucks starting in > September 2007. > > The first passenger vehicle to adopt TPMS was the Porshe 959 (1986); it > measured tire pressure indirectly, and it did not use radio frequency (RF) > to transmit information. Battery-powered wireless TPMS that directly > measure air pressure in the tires appeared in the late 90's. Within a > decade, the technology substantially advanced and was adopted by many > auto-manufacturers. More high-level information about TPMS history can be > found on this Wikipedia page > > How does TPMS work? > > In a typical TPMS, each wheel of the vehicle contains a device (TPMS > sensor) - usually attached to the inflation valve - that measures air > pressure and, optionally, temperature, vehicle state (moving or not), and > the health of the sensor's battery. Each sensor transmits this information > (either periodically or upon request) to the on-board computer in the > vehicle. To differentiate between its own wheels and wheels of the vehicle > in the next lane, each TPMS sensor contains a unique id. The receiver is > "paired" to the sensors very much as a Bluetooth device. The vast majority > of TPMS sensors transmit information in clear text using one of the > assigned radio frequencies (typically, 315MHz or 433MHz). > > TPMS transmits data that uniquely identifies your car! > > Here is where privacy problems become obvious: Each wheel of the vehicle > transmits a unique ID, easily readable using off-the-shelf receiver. > Although the transmitter's power is very low, the signal is still readable > from a fair distance using a good directional antenna. > > Remember the paper that discussed how Bluetooth radios in cell phones can > be used to track their owners? The problem with TPMS is incomparably > bigger, because the lifespan of a typical cell phone is around 2 years and > you can turn the Bluetooth radio off in most of them. On the contrary, > TPMS cannot be turned off. It comes with a built-in battery that lasts 7 > to 10 years, and the battery-less TPMS sensors are ready to hit the market > in 2010. It does not matter how long you own the vehicle – transportation > authorities keep up-to-date information about vehicle ownership. > > Why is this a problem? > > What problems exactly does the TPMS introduce? If you live in the United > States, chances are, you have heard about the "traffic-improving" ideas > where transportation authorities looked for the possibility to track all > vehicles in nearly real time in order to issue speeding tickets or impose > mileage-adjusted taxes. Those ideas caused a flood of privacy debates, but > fortunately, it turned out that it was not technically of financially > feasible to implement such a system within the next 5-10 years, so the > hype quickly died out. > > Guess what? With minor limitations, TPMS can be used for the very purpose > of tracking your vehicle in real time with no substantial investments! > TPMS can also be used to measure the speed of your vehicle. Similarly to > highway/freeway speed sensors that measure traffic speed, TPMS readers can > be installed in pairs to measure how quick your vehicle goes over a > predefined distance. Technically, it is even plausible to use existing > speed sensors to read TPMS data! > > Note that unlike traffic sensors that measure speed anonymously, TPMS can > be used to measure speed of each individual vehicle because car > manufacturers know serial numbers of every part in your vehicle, including > unique IDs of TPMS sensors. > > Now, no article is complete unless it mentions terrorists. Bad news, > everyone (terrorists of all levels of badness -- rejoice)! It is now super > easy to blow up someone's car. There's no need to fix the explosive to the > vehicle. No more wires and buttons. No human factor. A high-school kid > with passion for electronics can assemble a device that will trigger the > detonator when the right vehicle passes by. (Movie directors, beware - I > will go after you if I see this in the next blockbuster). > > Aren't we being tracked already? > > Yes, many vehicles already come with advanced tracking technologies, like > OnStar, but they usually offered as options, so if you do not appreciate > the possibility for OnStar support people to eavesdrop on the > conversations in your vehicle (yes, they can do that), you can say "no, > thank you" to the dealer, or, as the last resort, disable the evil device > by cutting its power supply. TPMS cannot be easily disabled: you need to > take the tire off the wheel to access the device. > > As every other tracking technology, the TPMS was introduced as a safety > feature "for your protection". One might wonder why NTHSA (a government > agency) would care so much about a small number of accidents related to > under-pressurized tires. And why would it choose to mandate TPMS and not > run-flat technology? Are we being tracked already? I hope not. > > Can this problem be solved? > > Yes, if it gets enough attention. Many chip manufacturers produce TPMS IC > sets (for sensors and receivers). If they add functionality to encrypt the > communication channel, the problem will go away. Note the similarity to > the keyless entry remote controllers. Initially, the remote controllers > did not use any encryption, but when carjackers started to sniff > communications and replay them to unlock vehicles, a complex rolling code > and encryption functionalities were implemented. Similar solutions can be > adopted for TPMS. > > _______________________________________________ > Miatapower mailing list > [email protected] > http://list.miatapower.net/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/miatapower >
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