Raulken co.UK - Security gag order against MIT students gets another day in court

By Jaikumar Vijayan August 18, 2008 (Computerworld) A federal judge in Boston will decide on Tuesday whether to extend or let expire a restraining order enjoining three students at MIT from publicly speaking about security flaws they discovered in the...

Recent inventions to emerge from the workshop of Zack Anderson include the "Killbot," a radio-controlled robot with a "1,500,000-candlepower spotlight to blind the victim," a bullhorn "to terrify victims," and a spinning drill bit "to bore through obstacles."Anderson, a 21-year-old electrical engineering major at MIT, has also designed a security system for his workshop that features sirens, flashing lights, and a digitally altered recording of his voice bellowing "Intrusion detected! Initiating auto-lockdown sequence!" and "releasing toxin into atmosphere!"Impressive stuff. But it's not generating half the attention as his project for Professor Ronald L. Rivest's Computer and Network Security class last semester. That endeavor, for which he earned an A, has gotten the fresh-faced senior from Beverly Hills, Calif., a visit from an FBI agent, an MBTA sergeant detective, nationwide press attention, and a starring role in a federal lawsuit.Anderson, along with his freshman-year roommate, R. J. Ryan, 22, and another student in the class, Alessandro Chiesa, 20, claimed in their project to have developed a way to hack into the MBTA's recently installed $180 million automated fare-collection system and provide fellow hackers with "free rides for life."Not surprisingly, the T was not pleased to learn of the development. The agency, which is strapped for cash and contemplating a fare increase in 2010, successfully sued the...
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