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Summary
Car GPS navigation systems are handy tool for finding one’s way on
the road. With features like local points of interest, address book and
SD card backup it would not be surprising if becomes a common everyday
item soon. Here is a review for a GPS navigation system similar to the
Magellan Maestro 4200:
Assets and Security Goals
Addresses stored on the deviceLocation of the carThe route the car is driving on as well as the destinationThe GPS system functioning properly
Potential Adversaries
A person seeking to follow the userA person wanting access personal addresses and information A person trying to make the user lost (or drive somewhere unsafe)
Potential Weaknesses
No passwords for use or backup (stealing is easy if there is access to the device)Possibility to eavesdrop information from the GPS communication (route, destination address, location)Possibility of sending the device incorrect information either directly or through compromising a serverPossibly making another device with the same id as the user’s and
confusing the system as to the actual location of car
Potential Defenses
Passwords for startup of the machineGood encryption & integrity checks for all data sent back and forth
Risks and Conclusion
If only a couple addresses are stored on the machine, it
probably isn’t worthwhile for someone to do a complicated tracking
scheme to find out information that could be figured out by simply
following the car. However, as more people depend on the system to get
around in the future, it may be reasonable to do harm by messing with
the system. Therefore the security features of GPS Tracking system will
be an important factor to consider when buying such systems in the
future.
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