Canterbury 'metrocard' hacked

Yet another incident of an expensive transport card getting hacked. 
Wherever these 'smart card' systems have been foisted on commuters, they have created a mass of problems. Instead of being held to ransom by these parasitical international ticketing businesses - it's time to ditch the whole concept of time-wasting fare collecting rackets and make public transport free at the point of use - just like we do with our libraries  ...and wrestle it all back under public control too. Editor.

RACHEL YOUNG, 11/11/2013

A hacker has exposed a flaw in Christchurch's public transport system leaving up to 70,000 people's personal details exposed, and potentially giving some free rides.

Environment Canterbury director operations Wayne Holton-Jeffreys said a few months ago a ''hacker'' showed them how he was able to put funds onto his metrocard without actually paying, up to a maximum of $200.

''We were aware of that issue and had put things in place to upgrade [the card system],'' he said.

''We had that planned to roll out by June 2014.''

He said they were part-way through the upgrades when the earthquakes struck so the focus shifted to securing cards rather than upgrading.

Holton-Jeffreys said during the weekend the same person had presented information at a conference showing flaws in the system that allowed access to up to 70,000 metrocard holder's details.

This morning, the Metrocard section of the regional transport information website was taken down.

''So to protect our metrocard holders privacy we have taken the website down,'' he said, adding that, ''I don't think I would be worried [as a metrocard holder].''

Holton-Jeffreys said the hacker had to enter an active metrocard six-digit number at random so could not search for people specifically. Likewise, there was no bank account information available, although names, addresses, telephone numbers and dates of birth could be found.

The flaw meant people could also add money to their metrocards without actually paying. But, Holton-Jeffreys did not believe this was going on as ECan kept a close eye on amounts transferred.

ECan hoped the flaw with the metrocards could be fixed quickly.

In the meantime, metrocard users can still use the card, but must top it up manually rather than online.

Holton-Jeffreys said the police had been called, but was unsure if any charges would be laid against the hacker.