Re: What could possibly go wrong... ;)

As we were explaning to recent visitors from SW Wa; "No everyone in the city did not get FTTH, they have the same crudy FTTN that you have."

Yep. I have no current need for a higher service.

Only the dumb and stupid. Why go to all that physical effort when you can obtain greater returns from digital efforts.

Yes, that's the big catch. Plus, years ago they reduced the off-peak hours by one hour. We have the NBN-SB-60-140 Plan @ 25 Mbps / 5 Mbps with 60 GB / 140 GB Data Allowance plan for $60.

Continuing on the movie theme, albeit now with one that nobody's heard of, I'm reminded of Prime Risk (1985):

A neat part of the plot is that they actually take advantage of an RF leak associated with key presses on the keypad on an ATM in order to "listen in" to credit card pin codes. Not to say that everything else made perfect technical sense, but they tried harder than most.

From the link that I posted earlier about a system hacked in the US: "The main components of wirelessly networked traffic lights are: Sensors that detect cars and inspect infrastructure. Those sensors are generally connected to traffic controllers that read the inputs and control light states. Those controllers, usually in a metal cabinet by the roadside, communicate with each other and a central server. Radios, operating at 900 MHz or 5.8 GHz, are frequently used for wireless communication in point-to-point or point-to-multipoint configurations.

-Then there's malfunction management units (MMUs) that can override the controller if there are conflicting green lights and force traffic lights into a "known-safe configuration" like blinking red lights."

What made that hack so easy wasn't just that they were using unencrypted wifi to communicate with/between traffic lights, but they were using the default password which was printed in the manual!

The use of "MMUs" indicates that the hardware designers _might_ have had an idea of what they're doing, but the software designers and system installers certainly weren't considering hacking at all.

Who knows what the state of the industry is in Australia.

Given the customers that these companies are dealing with, they probably mark up the cost of their systems by some unjustifiable multiple anyway.

Best traffic lights I came across were mechanically timed and set so if you stayed at speed limit you got a green light every time, ok at night time a bit senseless, but only once, then once onto a route number (Auckland has/had easy to follow numbered routes to take) no more red lights. If you sped you went from one red light to another.

Of course nowadays when nothing was broken it had to be "fixed" to running with no rhyme nor reason

snip

When ASIO gave you your top secret direct hot-line batphone didn't they give you the code to turn all the traffic lights on your trip green? I got the code when I joined the 'Stonecutters' of course I have to put it in backwards as they drive on the wrong side of the road.

Can't do that with mechanical lights They do, do this in Sydney which has controlled lights for when he and his druggy mates drove from Canberra to Kings Cross the "biggest bed in Australia" where the limo parked in no parking zone underneath it's veranda

Sydney lights are electronic, that's how the globes light on

Hey don't dis Fred Nile

Watch out Pizzle, don't the Jews control the traffic lights?

That's why us Gentiles get a better run from sunset Friday till the 3 stars on Saturday night

More importantly "our" media

How do they do this? Who are the Jews behind it, maybe Soros? BTW you do know Thunburg is a Jewish name shortened from Thunburgstein don't you?

Thunburg maybe don't think so

snip

What don't you think?

----snip----

And that (the rarity of updates) is the deciding factor. Given that the updates must be checked individually, onsite updates would probably be cheaper than remote updates anyway.

Hackers are people who exploit others fuckups. Don't fuckup and you don't get hacked. These people f***ed up on so many levels that they deserved to get hacked.

Do other people deserve to get their lives messed up in consequence.

The aviation industry might originally have taken the view that mechanics should install parts the right way around. After all, how hard can it be?

But eventually, after people died, it became realised that it was better just to make it impossible to install parts the wrong way around.

Mind you, even that doesn't always work. A non-return valve was found installed the wrong way around in a crashed aircraft. The valve had an interference pin designed into it to ensure that it could not be installed backwards. It was determined that someone had cut it to make it shorter - apparently because they could get it to fit otherwise.

Still, the principle remains valid. The less scope there is for making mistakes, the fewer mistakes will be made, whether due to human fallibility, or just incompetence.

Sylvia.