http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/ Engadget Comments for http://www.engadget.com/media/feedlogo.gif http://www.engadget.com en-us Copyright 2012 Weblogs, Inc. The contents of this feed are available for non-commercial use only. Blogsmith http://www.blogsmith.com/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:32PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 22nd 2007 1:57AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 22nd 2007 4:17AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Dear god, my sense of curiosity compelled me to look deeper into this 2 cups 1 girl thing...

I am not sure I will ever be the same. Oh My God. Seriously. Dear God.

I am going to get a drill and see if I can get these memories out of my head......

]]>Dec 22nd 2007 9:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 23rd 2007 2:10AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 6:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 11:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 6:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Normally I'd agree with you, however it's Christmas weekend and it's New York City... no one, not even fanatic Engadget losers would be stupid enough to fight through the crowds of fat outlanders trying to get from Times Square to Rockefeller Plaza in order to rush out and play with some cabbies compie]]>Dec 21st 2007 5:02PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Cool!]]>Dec 21st 2007 4:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:42PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Wish I could do something like that at school :P That'll show you for giving me that seemingly unnecessary detention!]]>Dec 21st 2007 4:57PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:00PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 4:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:16PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
It's truly scary and appalling that such things run on the worst POS operating system ever invented.

It would be even more funny if they could get data off these machines. Similar to how the Windows based voting machines use an unprotected Access database....]]>Dec 21st 2007 5:05PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:13PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 24th 2007 2:05AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Idiot fanboy troll]]>Dec 21st 2007 5:18PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:35PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
Let's see here:
By using Windows, you have the easiest system to hack, the most tools available to get that data off it, and the least security.

The fact is that these things shouldn't crash at all. Period, not at all. There should be 100% reliability just like other critical systems (think airliner controls, power plant controls, you car's engine computer, etc most which do not use Windows) and be the hardest to hack.

Thus it should be some hardened version of either:
1) Linux
2) Custom OS

With a proper UNIX system, there would be no chance of a dialogue box coming up and giving you control of the OS. Let alone being able to boot into the machine and grab the data like on the voting machines.

I won't even discuss the insanity of transmitting (and possibly storing) this information on a Windows machine in a public place like a cab. I wonder how long before someone steals the box from the cabbie?
And if you watched the HBO documentary on the voting machines, it was insane how easy it was to hack. The machine sent the data to an Access database that was not protected (no Access database can be secured) and you could easily manipulate the underlying data.

What should have been was fully encrypted traffic from end to end that is pretty much tamperproof. Encrypt the boot volume and all data with a dongle + PIN. That way every time the machine is turned on someone must validate it.

The fact is these companies took the cheap way out with COTS POS Windows, hobbled some poor code together and sold it to the sheeple as "secure".

I know I cringe when I hear something uses Windows as a backbone. And I typically avoid that merchant. That goes for websites, too. I see .ASP or .ASPX and run to another site. If you valued your personal information you would too.]]>Dec 21st 2007 8:43PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
It's not that the dialog box is "giving you control of the OS", it just knocked the running application out of full screen, allowing you access to normal functions of the Windows GUI, like launching other applications and browsing the file system, again, none of those things are really the fault of the OS, more the fault of the person who configured the computer, and the fault of the programmer who created the application that crashed in the first place.

Besides, it's not like some stupid GPS map in the back of some cab is exactly a "mission critical device". ]]>Dec 21st 2007 9:36PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
I doubt you could convince any pointed-hair boss that security and robustness outweigh the above.
]]>Dec 22nd 2007 2:04AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
There is no way you can be an IT guy and at the same time think there is anything out there that it 100% reliable. That's just contradictory logic. And your UNIX system,... yeah, just give me a little while and I'm sure I could break it.

Whatever fanboi]]>Dec 23rd 2007 1:44PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:15PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:23PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:27PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:37PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:33PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:41PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 6:48PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 10:29PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
that was the saddest day in my life.]]>Dec 21st 2007 5:49PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:52PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 8:40PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:55PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 5:56PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/]]>Dec 22nd 2007 4:34PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 6:24PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/
I mean, how do you passionately vomit? How?!]]>Dec 21st 2007 6:58PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 21st 2007 10:25PMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 22nd 2007 2:02AMhttp://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/http://www.engadget.com/2007/12/21/nyc-taxis-simply-running-mapping-app-over-unsecured-windows/Dec 22nd 2007 4:37PM