Chevron icon It indicates an expandable section or menu, or sometimes previous / next navigation options. HOMEPAGE

Hackers have figured out how to attack gas pumps, and things could get really dangerous

Your car isn’t the only thing hackers may be targeting.

Advertisement

Two security researchers recently revealed that gas pumps are becoming a more common target of cybercrime. 

In February, after an internet-connected gas pump was hacked, Trend Micro security researchers Kyle Wilhoit and Stephen Hilt began conducting an experiment to track hackers targeting gas stations arounnd the world. 

shadow gas pump station india
Security researchers found that gas pumps in the US are the most targeted by hackers. REUTERS/Adnan Abidi

After six months of research, they found that gas pump systems are easy to breach and that hackers are going after gas pumps in the US the most. They also found that in some cases hackers could manipulate pump data to possibly cause an explosion. 

How a gas pump attack could turn deadly

Gas pumps these days have something called gas monitoring systems or automatic tank-gauging (ATG), which is basically an internet-connected system that is used to track things like fuel levels and temperature. Researchers found that a lot of these systems are not password protected, so they are easy targets.

Advertisement

As part of their experiment, Wilhoit and Hilt set up fake gas pump systems called “GasPots” in several countries to track any suspicious activity. For six months they tracked hackers attacking these fake systems. 

Researchers found that hackers primarily just renamed the “GasPots” tank names once they got into a system, which is annoying, but relatively harmless. But Wilhoit and Hilt said in their report that if a hacker alters other critical data they could create a hazardous situation. 

For example,  a hacker could change a tank’s overflow limit to an amount beyond its capacity. This could cause the tank to overflow, possibly triggering an explosion. 

Gas pump attacks by country
Percentage of attacks on GasPots deployments by country TrendMicro

Of course, this would not only be bad for a gas station owner's bottom line, but it could also become a deadly situation for anyone close to the explosion. 

Advertisement

Who is at risk?

Wilhoit and Hilt found that pumps in the US are most at risk. 

Attacks against GasPots in the US accounted for 44% of the total number of attacks. Jordan accounted for the second most attacks at 17% and Brazil, the UAE, and the UK all tied for third at 11%. Only six percent stemmed from Russia and interestingly none of the GasPots in Germany were attacked. 

Internet of Things Gas
Advertisement
Close icon Two crossed lines that form an 'X'. It indicates a way to close an interaction, or dismiss a notification.

Jump to

  1. Main content
  2. Search
  3. Account