Polish Hackers Repaired Trains the Manufacturer Artificially Bricked. Now The Train Company Is Threatening Them : technology

[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 128 points 10 months ago

"You wouldn't pirate a train"

[-] milicent_bystandr@lemm.ee 5 points 10 months ago

Is this a robbery?

No! It's a science experiment... computer science!

[-] ours@lemmy.world 6 points 10 months ago

The robbery is what the train manufacturer did.

[-] WolfhoundRO@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

Then the hackers did a train robbery on the train robbery

[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 2 points 10 months ago

Their leader, 'Dutch', had a good plan.

[-] WolfhoundRO@lemmy.world 2 points 10 months ago

He also screamed at the screen "ONE! MORE! SCORE!"

[-] Malgas@beehaw.org 5 points 10 months ago

"Train pirate" has got to be one of the steampunkiest job titles I've ever heard.

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 81 points 10 months ago

The government better sue the train manufacturer and protect these hackers. The hackers saved the state millions - possibly hundreds of millions.

[-] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 80 points 10 months ago

Good opportunity for the new polish government to show that they're actually sane.

[-] duncesplayed@lemmy.one 58 points 10 months ago

Holy shit. If I understand correctly, the trains were programmed to use their GPS sensors to detect if they were ever physically moved to an independent repair shop. If they detected that they were at an independent repair shop, they were programmed to lock themselves and give strange and nonsensical error codes. Typing in an unlock code at the engineer's console would allow the trains to start working normally again.

If there were a corporation-sized mirror, I don't know how NEWAG could look at itself in it.

[-] Archpawn@lemmy.world 12 points 10 months ago

They weren't doing anything smartphone manufacturers haven't been doing for years. Or those guys that make McDonalds ice cream machines.

[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 13 points 10 months ago

With the difference that a government agency is operating these trains and that repairs are not cheap.

[-] gomp@lemmy.ml 2 points 10 months ago

Governments (and the public sector in general) are treated way worse by companies than private customers who can far more easily switch to a competitor or influence others to do so

[-] WashedOver@lemmy.ca 53 points 10 months ago

I wonder if they were taking notes from John Deere and the automotive industry or will it be the reverse here soon?

Just imagine all these vehicles that could be bricked for not going back to the stealerships for outrageous prices on parts and incompetent service.

Also the vehicles that could be disabled for not paying for device protection plan that allows your vehicle to operate safely. It would be a shame if your vehicle stopped working on your way to work or the hospital.

I suspect Tesla, BMW, and John Deere are the closest to this reality.

I sure hope the government doesn't help with another great cash for clunkers national program to get rid of more cars too old for these measures. Sure is a great way to drive new car sales though...

[-] RustedSwitch@lemmy.world 3 points 10 months ago

Add Mercedes to that list of companies close to doing this

[-] Blizzard@lemmy.zip 34 points 10 months ago

I wonder if they'll be able to overclock those trains or install some mods.

[-] Sotuanduso@lemm.ee 14 points 10 months ago

The trains run DOOM.

[-] JillyB@beehaw.org 12 points 10 months ago

I'm now imagining rgb trains. Mechanical turn styles, high refresh rate info screens, giant AIO coolers.

[-] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 2 points 10 months ago

Plenty of modern rolling stock already has water cooled power electronics, oil-cooled transformers, and I'm sure there's RGB passenger information displays.

They also laugh at your little 120/140/200mm fans.

[-] SkaveRat@discuss.tchncs.de 1 points 10 months ago

Okay, but now we need to upgrade those industrial fans to noctua

[-] SomeoneSomewhere@lemmy.nz 1 points 10 months ago

Let me introduce you to ebm-pabst.

[-] i_am_not_a_robot@discuss.tchncs.de 2 points 10 months ago

Maybe they can put some of these in https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hmrQ-xm546o

[-] PipedLinkBot@feddit.rocks 1 points 10 months ago

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[-] Moonrise2473@feddit.it 21 points 10 months ago

"The president of Newag contacted me," Cieszyński wrote. "He claims that Newag fell victim to cybercriminals and it was not an intentional action by the company

Yes, those cybercriminals that once infiltrated in a business network, instead of stealing data or holding ransoms, hide multiple iterations in the code of a snippet that only benefits the corp. Sure, they exist

[-] Malgas@beehaw.org 1 points 10 months ago

Also taking legal action against people who helped your customers resolve the consequences of such an attack seems perfectly normal and not at all contrary to that narrative.

[-] KingThrillgore@lemmy.ml 14 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

It would be interesting to see if Alstom, Hyundai Rotem, and Stadler Rail are doing the same. They are sitting on billions in public sector contracts.

[-] relevants@feddit.de 0 points 10 months ago

Stadler (sic)

?

[-] hexloc@feddit.nl 2 points 10 months ago

lmao.

[+] davel@lemmy.ml -68 points 10 months ago

The European Union is an antidemocratic corporate cartel.

[-] onlinepersona@programming.dev 45 points 10 months ago

Good thing it wasn't the EU that made the trains 👌

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 25 points 10 months ago* (last edited 10 months ago)

The EU is in a constant struggle for its direction. Discounting it as a lost cause only allows malicious actors free reign. On the one hand, EU regulators take on tech monopolies, like forcing Microsoft to un-bundle Windows and Edge/Bing. And european courts have repeatedly struck down legislation that would allow for indiscriminate data retention.
On the other hand, the EU politicians are currently trying to sneak through a law that would force browsers to accept state-issued root certificates, allowing them to spy on and alter any and all internet communication, basically upending the trust-based system that keeps the internet secure currently. This law is part of the eIDAS initiative.
And I'm sure that with the new, EU-driven right to repair initiative, the train manufacturer will be forced to back down soon too.

[-] kilgore_trout@feddit.it 3 points 10 months ago

The right to repair proposal will sure have a list of exemptions, not to hurt the feelings of big commercial conglomerates.

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 1 points 10 months ago

Interesting, this needs some reading

[-] Quacksalber@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Here is a link detailing the issues concerning root certificates in the eIDAS legislation, as it currently written and about to be voted on: https://www.theregister.com/2023/11/08/europe_eidas_browser/

[-] flambonkscious@sh.itjust.works 3 points 10 months ago

Thanks! I stumbled across the Mozilla blog on it, too

https://blog.mozilla.org/netpolicy/2021/11/04/mozilla-publishes-position-paper-on-the-eu-digital-identity-framework/

[-] Diplomjodler@feddit.de 22 points 10 months ago

Maybe you should stop huffing Orban's farts.

[-] Illuminostro@lemmy.world 1 points 10 months ago

#fuckyourdividends

[-] PanArab@lemmy.ml 0 points 10 months ago

True, but that’s why it is somewhat functional. Otherwise it would be a mess, swinging back and forth between contradictory short term thinking.

The Arabian Gulf states are not democratic at all, and sometimes the governments go against the wishes of the people -mostly US-aligned foreign policies and social and economic liberalization-. But they sure can get shit done and massively. Kinda like China but on a smaller scale because all together the Arabian Gulf -without the foreigners- adds up to the population of one Chinese city.

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