Court order puts a stop to Defcon talk on subway hacks

A Defcon conference talk scheduled on Sunday was canceled following a lawsuit by the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) against the three Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) students scheduled to present. The students were scheduled to deliver a talk explicitly titled: "The Anatomy of a Subway Hack: Breaking Crypto RFIDs & Magstripes of Ticketing Systems".

MBTA probably didn't react well to some of the topics, which included techniques to clone and reverse-engineering MBTA's CharlieCard.  The CharlieCard is based on the same Mifare Classic RFID technology that was cracked earlier this year. Indeed, one of the bylines that has since been removed from the Defcon website described the talk this way: "Want free subway rides for life?" MBTA has reason to be concerned: In court filings, the MBTA noted that 68 percent of its riders use the CharlieCard, which brings in about $475,000 each weekday.

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