Intelligent Transport Systems - Telenor

Security is implemented differently at different
ports: on some of them security may be absent
altogether. One popular pastime for hackers is
to scan the ports in different local networks or
equipment in order to detect weak security that
can be penetrated.
A new security threat is concerned with the use
of PDAs and beaming where information, e.g.
files, is passed between computers using the
Bluetooth technology and infrared communication.
PDAs and beaming are effective means for
circumventing firewalls, access control and other
protection systems: you can use your PDA to
pick up information from someone in the street
and load it onto your computer when you reach
your office. The data file may have been loaded
onto your PDA without you knowing it. These
technologies are so new that effective protective
systems against misuse have not been developed.
Another development that influences the reliability
of society is that telecommunications is
used increasingly as a production factor in other
products. Some examples are:
• transaction services for banks and other financial
institutions where telecommunications is
used for managing transactions and transferring
money;
• e-commerce where telecommunication is used
for browsing, ordering, payment, and sometimes
delivery of goods;
• intelligent buildings where telecommunications
supports operations for remote sensing of room
temperature and break-in, control of ovens and
heaters, and payment of energy usage;
• intelligent traffic systems where telecommunications
is used for payment of road usage,
parking and public transport.
All these applications are either in common use
or will be so soon. The common denominator for
these services is transfer of money. These services
are therefore open for attack in order to
learn account numbers and security codes, use
fake accounts or divert payment transactions.
Examples posing other problems are:
• intelligent traffic systems used for road traffic
management where an outage may lead to
traffic congestion;
• intelligent buildings where interruption of
telecommunications services may affect heat-
Telektronikk 1.2003
ing control and security of homes and factory
premises;
• alarm services where disruption of service
may cause important warnings not to be disseminated
and burglar alarm systems to be
disabled 1) ;
• logistics using telecommunications for coordination
of operations and fleet management
where failures may cause inefficiency and loss
of business;
• booking systems where malfunction of the
telecommunications systems may cause irregularities
of air transport;
• telemedicine where interruption of services
may reduce the capabilities of hospitals and,
in the worst case, interrupt remote medical
treatment causing danger of life;
• cooperative work in and between companies
where failure of telecommunications services
may cause economic losses;
• business-to-business e-commerce where the
network is used for managing purchase and
delivery of raw material, semi-products and
parts, managing logistics and product delivery,
and managing cooperation between companies
sharing the production of the same goods
and services. This is estimated to become a
business in the multi-trillion dollar class [1].
These are just some examples. The point is that
the infrastructures knitting together the increasingly
more complex public and private enterprises
require telecommunications and computers.
The performance of the infrastructure relies
then on third parties: manufacturers of telecommunications
equipment, computer manufacturers,
software manufacturers and telecommunications
service providers. Also in the case where
an enterprise operates its own private network,
the transport links interconnecting geographically
separate parts of the network are usually
leased from a telecommunications operator. The
reliability of the infrastructure of the company
then depends on the reliability of service offered
by telecommunications operators and the
dependability of equipment and software
installed in the local area network.
The general evolution of sensor technology will
increase this vulnerability for several other reasons:
1) Burglar alarm systems test that the alarm gauge is operational at regular intervals (order of minute) in order to detect tampering with the device and
the connection. However, a failure of the telecommunication system may disrupt so many individual alarms that the security firm is overloaded.
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