Judge Lifts Gag Order Against MIT Students
A federal judge on Tuesday lifted a gag order placed on three Massachusetts Institute of Technology students earlier this month. The trio, Zack Anderson, R.J. Ryan, and Alessandro Chiesa, were going to discuss the vulnerabilities of the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority's fare system at the annual Defcon conference.
The judge found the MBTA had a minimal case against the students under the federal computer-intrusion law and denied the MBTA's request for a five-month injunction.
"In a world where conferences of hackers convene to share findings, corporations and public agencies are always making security-related changes and enhancements," said Joe Pesaturo, an MBTA spokesperson, in an e-mail to us.
Hacker Noted
The Electronic Frontier Foundation, which provided legal support to the students, said the MBTA in papers filed Tuesday acknowledged flaws in its CharlieCard and CharlieTicket system and said it will take five months to fix.
"Absolutely not," said Pesaturo. "The system is not flawed, nor is the CharlieTicket. The CharlieCard isn't at issue at all."
Pesaturo added that someone has has tried to figure out the combination to the padlock on the ticket's magnetic stripe. "We are changing the combination and adding more security enhancements," he said. "The first changes will be implemented before the end of next month, with additional security enhancements to follow in the subsequent weeks and months."
The gag order sparked a frenzy of discussions on First Amendment rights and prompted groups such as the EFF and the American Civil Liberties Union of Massachusetts to come to the students' aid.
"We are puzzled and disappointed by the MBTA in trying to silence the messengers that there were these problems and vulnerabilities with the pay fare system," said Chris Ott, ACLU Massachusetts spokesperson. "It would have been smarter for the MBTA to embrace the research the students had done instead of clamping down on...
Article published by Enterprise Security Today
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