Hackers Can Jailbreak Digital License Numbers to Pay Others’ Tolls and Tickets

If the tool were leaked or sold online—which Rodriguez says he doesn’t plan to publish—anyone could use it to jailbreak their tablet in minutes. “They just plug in a cable and install new software, just like you jailbreak an iPhone,” says Rodriguez.

Rodriguez also notes that his hacking technique could be used not only by a driver looking to jailbreak their own plate, but also by someone targeting the unknowing owner of the plate. Rodriguez warns that if a hacker — or a parking attendant or mechanic — can extract a license plate and install their own software on it, they can surreptitiously track the driver or program the license plate to change the license plate number over the Internet. to connect to a server controlled by the hacker.

In addition to the physical access and time required for this hack, the license plate tamperer must also disable a feature of Reviver’s license plates that notifies the owner when the vehicle is left. Rodriguez points out that this is an added wrinkle that disrupts the plate’s radio communications, disrupting it, making an attack less practical, if not impossible.

Rodriguez isn’t the first to hack Reviver’s systems. In 2022, security researcher Sam Curry found it vulnerabilities in the company’s web infrastructure this allowed him to make himself an administrator in the back-end database, with the ability to track or change license plates at will. Unlike Rodriguez’s hacking, Reviver was able to quickly correct his web-based mistakes to thwart Curry’s technique.

Although Curry’s web-hacking method was easier than Rodriguez’s hardware hack before Reviver’s patch, he says Rodriguez’s method is likely to be used by some scoundrels who might want to jailbreak Reviver boards or simply buy pre-jailbroken boards. will be a real attraction for drivers. online. “If you want to change your license plate, James Bond style, and then go crazy fast or something, you can change it in a few hours and change it again without even pulling into the garage,” Curry said. “People who wreak havoc on the road will probably get involved.”

Digital license plates are currently legal to purchase and register in California and Arizona (also Michigan). he gave them permission briefly), many more states are considering legalizing them in the coming years. As this presentation continues, Rodriguez and Curry argue that license plate manufacturers, transit regulators, and law enforcement agencies all need to be aware that any system that relies solely on license plates as identifiers can be vulnerable to digital license plate hacking, with potentially chaotic results. .

“You have to think people are going to mess with them,” Curry said. “And people have to accept the consequences.”

Updated 12:48 pm EST, December 16, 2024: Clarified Michigan’s policy on digital license plates.