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Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

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Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#111
post #3

Anybody read through http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-usenixsec2011.pdf already? My car-tech knowledge is way to rudimentary to get a better idea on that stuff.

>"Anybody read through http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-usenixsec2011.pdf already?" To what end? At a glance: * These attacks were demonstrated on a "moderately priced late model sedan" which is surely a bit of a different situation than a brand new luxury car. That could mean more sophisticated systems and likely less time to reverse engineer - assuming you don't believe the manufacturer is complicit. * On page 5 an…

That could mean more sophisticated systems and likely less time to reverse engineer

Car electronics change very little year to year. If you have an unreported exploit, it wouldn't surprise me if it were valid for more than 5 production years. The bigger issue is that the networks in these cars are only secured by physical access, and there are more devices on the bus every year.

A remote exploit must fetch a pretty penny, so I would expect professionals to get to work on pre-production units as soon as they are available in the hope that they don't change substantially.

then gain intimate physical access to the vehicle to seed the exploits before eventually remotely exploiting them

I think you read this wrong - the car was disassembled to explore the systems, but after vulnerability development, physical access to a target was not required. This is suggested by "Sniff MAC address, brute force PIN, buffer overflow" and "Call car, authentication exploit, buffer overflow". If modification was required, executing an exploit would involve a predetermined handshake (which is described later in the paper), not something as crude as buffer overflows.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#112
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You completely misread the point. We don't know the truth, if it was foul play or not. Probably not. BUT, it doesn't matter about the size of the jump, yet the fact that it's even a POSSIBILITY THAT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER ... is scary. Plus, it's not as large of a leap as you think, it goes hand in hand. Everyone is familiar with journalists disappearing in countries like Turkey.

Yeah, but the thing is, governments -- and individuals within governments -- don't have to be super secret ninjas. They can be heavy handed and get away with it because they've got power and you don't. The US sent helicopters full of Navy Seals into a foreign country, supposedly an ally, without their permission to kill someone, and then went on TV the next day to brag about it. George W Bush threw hundreds of people…

Are you saying governments don't do anything secret, because they don't have to ? Well, you are surely misguided. Tons of governmental operations are clearly not happening in the open. And it wouldn't be the first time they make an assassination pass for an accident (or suicide, or whatever other "natural" event). Even "democracies" do that all the time.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#113
post #53
post #19

while this story is about a week old and got lost in all this nsa nonsense, listen to what mr. hastings said before his death. even on tv. i am german and i can tell you that a mercedes benz DOES NOT just blow up and spit its engine 100yd down the street. the car wasn't even really against the tree... sometimes you just need to apply a little grain of common sense, ppl.

I never even heard of Michael Hasting's death before today, so I don't have an opinion yet, but I find it hilarious that someone who is implying that a conspiracy is at work here is telling everyone to "apply a little grain of common sense". Conspiracy theories are not common sense.

would you please look up what "conspiracy" and "theory" means? thank you.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#114
post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Ryan Dunn was driving at 130mph when he hit that tree. Not a great example for your position...

What makes you think his case sets a lower bound on the speed required to start a fire?

Well, physics.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#115
post #102
post #19

while this story is about a week old and got lost in all this nsa nonsense, listen to what mr. hastings said before his death. even on tv. i am german and i can tell you that a mercedes benz DOES NOT just blow up and spit its engine 100yd down the street. the car wasn't even really against the tree... sometimes you just need to apply a little grain of common sense, ppl.

It's easy to assume "conspiracy" for everything. Heck, Senator Mark Udall's brother (one of the most-outspoken Senators with the NSA story) has gone missing. You could call that a conspiracy - but it doesn't make it any more true. http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2013/07/01/mark-...

our beloved chancellor merkel is outspoken, too, while enacting draconian laws just as full of stupidity as fisa, patriot act and ndaa. don't let yourselves be fooled by quacking senators.

that said, politicians are usually not as much a threat to tyranny as journalists.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#116
post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Cars can catch fire in real life: http://www.liveleak.com/view?i=54e_1333912420 See also: Ryan Dunn's 911, post-tree. Hollywood may exaggerate the rate at which that happens, but not much more.

Ryan Dunn was driving at 130mph when he hit that tree. Not a great example for your position...

Given the distance the drive train was tossed in this wreck, I don't think there was any shortage of kinetic energy being dissipated into the vehicle.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So I know almost nothing of the circumstances of the crash, but I think there is more to consider. For instance, how fast was he going? My 2006 accord is much safer than some car from the 1950's. But also, I get 260-hp out of a 3 liter engine, and its faster than a Mustang GT from the 90's. If you hit a tree going 90mph, there's little a bunch of airbags will do for you. People dying, things exploding, parts flying -…

> its faster than a Mustang GT from the 90's What?

I have that car and I can attest to it not being incredibly fast. Unfortunately horsepower != speed.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#118
post #58

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You completely misread the point. We don't know the truth, if it was foul play or not. Probably not. BUT, it doesn't matter about the size of the jump, yet the fact that it's even a POSSIBILITY THAT WE HAVE TO CONSIDER ... is scary. Plus, it's not as large of a leap as you think, it goes hand in hand. Everyone is familiar with journalists disappearing in countries like Turkey.

No, you don't get to do that. You can't say "I'm speculating that this person might have been murdered. Wow, look at what the world is coming to, that people are even considering the possibility that this person was murdered. (Besides, sometimes people do get murdered...)" This is begging the question in its most basic form.

Well, not quite begging the question, in that it's not something you're assuming to be true but rather something you're causing to be trivially true, but it's still an odd and presumably invalid construction to be sure.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#119

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The subject of his email was "FBI Investigation, re: NSA". Don't know if the investigation is the same as his big story, however.

Wonder if his notes could be found, I imagine they would have been cloud backed.

"I imagine they would have been cloud backed."

Of course they were; that's how the NSA found out.

Re: Michael Hastings Sent Panicked Email Hours Before Car Crash

#120
post #34
post #24

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think given the fact that the US is literally Nazi Germany Literally is metaphorically literally? I hate it when people abuse language like that, even though usage dictates conventions.

I believe the poster was making a sarcastic point about the kinds of stories that are currently popular on HN. He does have a point hidden beneath the snark. I believe that you could post a story about Majestic 12 and have it make the front page right now.

I believe that you could post a story about Majestic 12 and have it make the front page right now

Do you really think so?

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