As of October 2022, California allows the purchase of digital license plates. The Reviver company jumped at the opportunity and is the only company that offers this service in the state. But a team of security researchers managed to access the service, locate the cars and even change the text that appears on the license plate, as explained in this note from one of the members published on January 3.
For between $20 and $25 per month, Reviver customers can take advantage of a battery or cable powered digital plaque, personalize part of the plaque by displaying a message. All this goes through an application that manages the system and also locates the vehicle.
And it was the app that allowed the researchers to hack into the system. After easily gaining access to an administrator account, they were able to access all sorts of data from Reviver, including vehicle location tracking. They were also able to update vehicle license plates and even add or remove users.
Reviver told US media Vice have resolved all the flaws identified by the researchers:
The company also clarifies that the researchers’ manipulations were not “misused” and that “customer information was not affected.”
Source: BFM TV
