Netherlands likely to replace tens of thousands of traffic lights by 2030
Attackers can change the traffic lights remotely by radio and thus disrupt road traffic. The replacement will take years.
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The Netherlands is facing an unexpected major project: tens of thousands of traffic lights have to be replaced. The reason for this is a security gap in the radio system of the control boxes, which attackers can use to remotely control the traffic signs. A security researcher recently presented the vulnerability at a conference and now the authorities are taking action.
It sounds like a scene from a Hollywood action movie: at the touch of a button, a hacker switches all the traffic lights in a city to green on behalf of a gang of gangsters, causing traffic chaos. Dutch experts fear that this could actually happen in the Netherlands. The culprit is a short-range radio system called KAR ("Korteafstandsradio"), which allows traffic lights to be controlled remotely. This allows emergency services and buses to change traffic lights on their route and thus make faster progress.
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Security researcher Alwin Peppels investigated the system and discovered that attackers can exploit it using simple means, such as a "software-defined radio". Unlike other methods, this can also be done over long distances and can influence several traffic light junctions at once. Peppels presented the results of his research on October 2 at the "One Conference" in The Hague.
Expensive and lengthy exchange
The Netherlands has been using the KAR system since 2005 and, as RTL Nieuws reports, is now planning to replace the affected traffic lights. Although the vulnerable radio receivers are often located in separate switch boxes and therefore the traffic lights do not have to be dismantled, the cost of this action is considerable. According to RTL Nieuws, experts estimate that the replacement of the tens of thousands of systems will take until 2030.
Traffic lights being targeted by hackers is not a new phenomenon. For example, a tinkerer taught the hacking gadget Flipper Zero to influence traffic lights in North America using an infrared signal. In 2022, a research team from c't, NDR and BR investigated the German system for influencing traffic lights ("Lichtsignalanlage" or LSA is the Scrabble-suitable official term for "traffic light"). The Chaos Computer Club (CCC) also looked into the issue.
(cku)