Hackers Steal Over 600 Gallons of Gas in a Detroit Gas Station

Hackers Steal Over 600 Gallons of Gas in a Detroit Gas Station

Detroit police are on the lookout for two suspects who allegedly hacked a gas station to steal 600 gallons of gasoline in a daylight robbery.

Fox 2 Detroit reports that the hack occurred around 1 PM local time on June 23 in a hijack that saw at least 10 cars take advantage of the free-flowing gas pump. The hackers are believed to have been using a remote device to seize control from the attendant.

In essence, the hackers were able to hijack the pump with the device while keeping the attendant from disabling the gas pump using the station’s system. It appears that the attackers targeted the fuel-management software used by the gas station.

“For a while, it looks like there were just cars coming through taking the gas. And your screen was blank?” asked a reporter, to which gas attendant Aziz Awadh said:

I tried to stop it but it didn’t work. I tried to stop it here from the screen but the screen’s not working. I tried to stop it from the system, nothing working.”

The system didn’t respond until the gas attendant got hold of an emergency kit to shut down the pump before calling the police.

Police are currently investigating the case after confirming that the hacking device was indeed used to prevent the pump from being turned off from the inside.

Vulnerabilities in fuel-management software was touched upon by a Motherboard report earlier this year, leading to hackers who change prices, steal fuel and even erase evidence of their crime.

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