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Thousands of US fuel stations vulnerable to hackers, according to report

A small but significant percentage of US fuel stations use unsecured Internet connections which make them vulnerable to hackers who could seek to disrupt operations, said a January 23 report obtained from technological online media Tom’s Guide US and Rapid7.



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The automated tank gauges of “at least 5,300” fuel stations out of an estimated 150,000 in the U.S. were found to have connections to the Internet which did not even require a password.

“A dedicated malefactor could inconvenience customers by shutting down a fuel tank, or hurt them by disabling an alarm,” the report said.

“Gas-station technicians can simply add a password to their systems and share that password with their fuel suppliers,” said the report, written by Marshall Honorof.

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