[FRC Blog] Einstein Report Released

[techhelpbb]

Originally Posted by Greg McKaskle

Does the report say that they reported it? I believe it says they admitted it.

I think the appropriate place for security experts to report vulnerabilities would be directly to FIRST staff. If you have a knack for hacking, social or otherwise, do the right thing -- wear the white hat.

Greg McKaskle

In the report it says this:

Page 10:

"While the Einstein matches were in progress, an individual was observed near the field using a cell phone in an apparent attempt to access the field WiFi network. This individual had attempted to engage field personnel in discussions while the field personnel were troubleshooting other issues. This individual was asked to put away the cell phone, and complied. Later, the individual was observed using the cell phone again, and at that point, before the last two Einstein matches were played, was asked to leave the field area, and did so."

"After Championship, this individual came forward wishing to share knowledge regarding the failed client authentication issue. The individual claimed to have attempted to connect to the network associated with Team 2056 during Semi-Final 2-1 and observed that this attempt corresponded with the robot losing communication."

Posts were made with slightly more information. That was pages ago and I'll leave that to someone else to cull.

I would have to suspect that the attempt to engage field personnel was their initial attempt to report the issue.

Originally Posted by Billfred

This. This. A million times, this.

If you're clever enough to figure out things like this, you should be smart enough to realize you have a duty to keep this knowledge out of the wrong hands and disclose it properly.

Please be aware that there are currently several vectors I could shut down: all the robots, some of the robots, or halt any of your robots at will.

Remember I do computer security and it's part of my job and no one asks me my opinion about this at FIRST.

Additionally I know other people have reported vectors some of which are not listed and have yet to get a clear line to FIRST either.

Your assumption presumes that you can get the ear of the person you need to talk to and that in reporting it someone decides to mitigate it.

So for example perhaps someone tried to be the 'white hat' when they had a person face to face at Einstein and didn't like what they got for it (I presume only...it could also be that they were just trying to cozy up to field personnel to get better signal strength).

Originally Posted by JamesTerm

Ah HA! Those two robot must have been on the Blue alliance!

Appendix A of the report is a little tricky to read because of how it's arranged in the left column.

Teams 16, 25, and 207 had the B version and would not have been effected by the stunt with the phone trying to connect.

[Denise Bohnsack]

It appears Marty McFly's Time Machine/Delorean would be useful now. It would be truly wonderful to go back and change these events and fix them before they had a chance to happen. Instead we are left with trying to prevent them in the future. I will leave this to the programmers and engineers.
I have followed this thread all week. For good reason, there is much anger and those effected have every right to feel this way for many reasons. As more than 1 poster has stated, this was a chance to have a blue flag for once. Just an idea to consider, may be a really bad one, but I will put it out there anyway just from a Mom's perspective. Could a flag/banner be created for this year's finalists that is extra special/limited edition/special color variety? Given to all that were in the finals since each might have had a chance at the title. Sort of a badge/banner of honor, for surviving and enduring the 2012 catastrophe? As the years go by, it would be special as no other team will have the chance to have such a banner, and the teams that go on can take pride if the fact they persevered and moved forward. I am in no way suggesting this makes up for what happened or replaces a title championship. I am suggesting this pays tribute to the teams who have endured much and are to be respected.
It is a small gesture but sometimes small gestures are very meaningful. I understand there would be an extra cost issue here which would need to be addressed to provide these teams with these banners, but I bet many of us who feel for these teams would gladly help. Again, just a Mom's suggestion and if some of you find it insulting or inadequate please forgive me, I promise I mean well. The only way to ever make a positive out of a very bad situation is to learn from it or make it better for those coming along next. Wish I had the perfect words or solution, but nobody does. FIRST will continue and let's try to make it better for future FIRSTers.