Toll roads for free? If you're a savvy crook.

September 6, 4:00 PMAuto Review ExaminerJohn Matras

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If you’re clever enough, you could be driving toll roads and bridges for free. It would be illegal and immoral, but there are a lot of people out there who have the knowledge of computer technology.

Particularly, one would have to know how to copy or overwrite the identity numbers wireless transponders carried in cars. According to MIT’s Technology Review, Nate Lawson of Root Labs says it’s not all that hard to do.

“This means that fraudsters could clone transponders, says Lawson, by copying the ID of another driver onto their device. As a result, they could travel for free while others unwittingly foot the bill. ‘It's trivial to clone a device,’ Lawson says. ‘In fact, I have several clones with my own ID already.’”

In fact, says Lawson, a cloned transmitter could be used as an alibi. Overwriting one's own ID onto another driver's device before committing a crime would be required, which could make it look like the perp was in another location while he was actually committing a crime. Of course, amateur sleuth can poke all kinds of holes in that scheme—how to get the other transmitter to clone it in the first place and then de-clone it—unless the other person was an accomplice. And then why not just swap transmitters? Nevertheless, we see a plot for a cop show.

So far only the San Francisco area’s FasTrak has proven to be vulnerable, but Lawson is confident that other transponder systems are just as vulnerable. In fact, says Technology Review, Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) filed a lawsuit to prevent students at MIT from presenting an analysis of Boston's subway system.

Could a scammer seal your transponder code for a sort of rolling identity theft? Well, Lason says it’s possible, and if theft is possible, someone will be out there stealing. It would pay—or perhaps save—to keep an eye on your toll charges.