The Ministry of Transportation and Communications yesterday pledged to submit a report on ways to harden the communication security of railway systems after a university student hacked into Taiwan High Speed Rail Corp’s (THSRC) radio communications system and disrupted operations of four high-speed rail trains last month.
Investigation by the police and prosecutors found that the university student and radio enthusiast, surnamed Lin (林), first used a software-defined radio (SDR) filter to analyze THSRC signals, downloaded the data to a computer, cracked the parameters and then programmed the codes into his radio devices.
Lin then sent a general alarm signal to THSRC’s control center in Taoyuan from his residence in Taichung at 11:23pm on April 5, causing the center to alert four operating trains to temporarily halt services in accordance with procedure. Operations resumed at 11:43pm that evening.
Photo: Liao Chen-huei, Taipei Times
The four trains were delayed for 48 minutes due to the incident, prompting the company to file a lawsuit against Lin on April 24.
Aside from an SDR filter, police seized 11 professional two-way radios from Lin’s residence. They found that he could access radio frequencies of the high-speed rail system, New Taipei City Fire Department and Taoyuan International Airport MRT Line.
Democratic Progressive Party Legislator Ho Shin-chun (何欣純) said in a meeting at the legislature’s Transportation Committee yesterday that Lin managed to gain access to THSRC’s radio communication by cracking seven layers of verification mechanisms and transmit a false alarm, causing four trains to temporarily halt.
“If a college student could hack into a system as sophisticated as that of the high-speed rail system, what would happen if the same thing happened with the Taiwan Railway Corp’s system?” Ho asked.
She asked whether the ministry conducted a comprehensive safety review of railway systems following the incident, including reviewing replacement cycles and maintenance procedures of radios used for railway operations and whether they regularly updated security protocols against unauthorized access.
She asked if the Taiwan Transportation Safety Board was notified about the incident.
The board said it was not notified.
Deputy Minister of Transportation and Communications Wu Sheng-yuan (伍勝園) said the Railway Bureau confirmed it received the report on the night of April 5 and that notifications to the board are subject to specific criteria before being made.
The ministry would later discuss with the board whether these types of incidents should be included in the mandatory reporting scope, he added.
Wu said that THSRC and Taiwan Railway Corp have begun reviewing the security of the radio communication system, while the Railway Bureau would instruct metro operators to conduct the same task.
He added that a report would be submitted following a one-month review of the case.
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