Audit of the Charlie Ticketing System For the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Audit of the Charlie Ticketing SystemFor the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority

Team China ConsultingLuke, Dylan, Scott, and Craig.

The Incident• Three MIT students explored the obvious weaknesses at the

MBTA.• The MBTA’s fare-collection system named the CharlieCard was

“hacked” to show false values.• The entire MBTA facility was shown to be lacking security in

general.

What Happened?• The students got into the building through unlocked doors.• Many locks were unlocked on rooms, phone boxes, and

networking systems. • They also found a key and other physical identification that

should not have been laying around.• They also eventually hacked the CharlieCard mag-stripe value• They also Hacked the MIFARE cards RFID security encryption

allowing cards to be cloned. • They documented their entire experience with photos and

assembled a slideshow. Link Here

Recommendations

• Risk Assessment (Internal & Third-party)• Improve Physical Security– Access Control Hardware & Software– Visitor Management System

• Improved Ticketing Hardware– CharlieTicket– CharlieCard

Risk Assessment• Regularly scheduled (Internal & Third-party)• Management, Security and end-user involvement• Reports to identify risk areas and levels• CounterMeasures® – Risk Analysis Software $14,500

(CounterMeasures®, n.d.)• RFP’s to be reviewed for vendor selection

Physical Security

• Access Control Hardware & Software– Increase security by eliminating keys– Provide management, audit tracking and incident response– Typical installations $1500 - $2500 per door (Access

control, n.d.)– RFP’s to be reviewed for vendor selection

Physical Security

• Visitor Management System – Lobby Track™– Increased control and security of visitors in MBTA

facilities– Security desk, on-line or self-registration kiosk

check-in available• $1800 per location (Edition Comparison, n.d.)

CharlieTicket

• Improved Card security• Use a md5 checksum• Implement central server to track card value

• Implement an exchange program to remove insecure cards from being used

• Cost – $0.60 each card (Standard HoloMark, n.d.)– $5,000 for each new server (Dell PowerEdge, n.d.)

CharlieCard• Original CharlieCards are “Classic MIFARE”• MIFARE Plus = Improved security over regular

“MIFARE”– Better encryption• AES-128 bit keys instead of 48 bit encryption (The MIFARE

Classic Card is Hacked, 2008)– Harder to crack

• $6.00 per card (Charlie's Devils, 2008)

Thank You

Luke, Dylan, Scott, and Craig.Team China Consulting

ReferencesAccess Control System Pricing. (n.d.). Retrieved May 6, 2010, from BuyerZone:  http://www.buyerzone.com/security/access_control/buyers_guide6.html Ahlers, M. M., & Quijano, E. (2009, May 20). National Archives loses hard drive with Clinton era records. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from   CNN Politics:http://www.cnn.com/2009/POLITICS/05/20/lost.hard.drive.clinton/ Baxter, C. (2008, August 12). MIT students' report makes security recommendations to T. Retrieved April 20, 2010, from The Boston   Globe:http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2008/08/12/mit_students_report_makes_security_recommendations_to_t/ B., B. (2008). CRACKING THE CHARLIE CARD. CSO Magazine, 7(8), 17. Retrieved from Risk Management Reference Center database.  COBIT Student Book. (2004). COBIT in Academia. Rolling Measows, IL: IT Governance Institude.

http://alarcos.inf-cr.uclm.es/doc/Auditoria/Cobit_Student_Book.pdf            CounterMeasures®Enterprise Platform 8.1. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2010, from CounterMeasures Risk Analysis Software:

http://www.countermeasures.com/enterprise_platform_product.htm          Dell PowerEdge R510. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2010, from

Dell: http://configure.us.dell.com/dellstore/config.aspx?c=us&cs=555&l=en&oc=MLB1197&s=biz Edition Comparison. (n.d.). Retrieved May 10, 2010, from Jolly Lobby Track:

http://www.jollytech.com/products/lobby_track/systems/edition_comparison.php McGraw-Herdeg, M. (2008, August 14). Public Documents Seem to Show Free T Fare. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from The Tech, Online  Edition:http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N30/subwayvulnerabilities.html

References Cntd.McNamara, P. (2008, 8 11). Exclusive: 'MBTA vs. MIT' lawsuit really about Charlie, not CharlieCard . Retrieved April 6, 2010, from Network  World:http://www.networkworld.com/community/node/30940  Mills, E. (2008, Decemer 23). MIT students to help Boston secure subway fare system. Retrieved March 10, 2010, from CNET   News:http://news.cnet.com/8301-1009_3-10128632-83.html?tag=mncol;title  National Archives Offers Reward of Up to $50,000 for Return of a Missing Clinton Administration Hard Drive . (2009, May 29). Retrieved March 10,

2010, from The National Archives:http://www.archives.gov/press/press-releases/2009/nr09-89.html  Russell, R., Zack, A., & Alessandro, C. (2008, August 8). Anaomy of a Subway Hack. Retrieved March 10, 2010,  from http://tech.mit.edu/V128/N30/subway/Defcon_Presentation.pdf Standard HoloMark Card Silver (On UltraCard III w/ High-Coercivity Magnetic Stri. (n.d.). Retrieved May 17, 2010, from   Alvio inc: http://www.alvio.com/product_view.aspx?product_ID=374049&source_ID=froogle  The MIFARE Classic Card is Hacked. (2008, March 19). Retrieved May 12, 2010, from Burton  Group Blogs: http://identityblog.burtongroup.com/bgidps/2008/03/the-mifare-clas.html