page_title: FasTrak
section_title: Security issues
hierarchical_section_title: FasTrak / Operations and functionality / Security issues
caption_attribution_description: English: Are these for communicating with FasTrak devices or what? Wow, there must be a lot of unnecessary signal loss due to all that extra looped cable! This doesn't look like a professional install at all! Taken on an elevated highway in San Francisco, while stopped in traffic. Yes, these are for communicating with FasTrak devices.[1]
context_page_description: FasTrak is the electronic toll collection system used in the state of California in the United States. The system is used statewide on all of the toll roads, toll bridges, and high-occupancy toll lanes along the California Freeway and Expressway System.
  As with other ETC systems, FasTrak is designed to eliminate the need for cars to stop to pay at toll booths, thus decreasing the traffic congestion traditionally associated with toll roads. Its use of technology to improve transit is in line with the U.S. Department of Transportation's Intelligent Transportation Systems initiative.
  Under California's government structure, the state's toll facilities are operated by various agencies and special-purpose districts. Concerned that they would each introduce different, incompatible ETC systems, the California State Legislature passed Senate Bill 1523 in 1990, requiring the California Department of Transportation to develop a statewide specification that all these toll agencies were required to meet. Three years later, Transportation Corridor Agencies opened the Foothill Toll Road in Orange County, implementing the statewide ETC system for the first time, and naming it FasTrak.
context_section_description: A teardown analysis of the transponder and analysis of its security issues was published at Black Hat 2008. They are updated remotely, and do not use encryption. Furthermore, FasTrak's basic functionality and specifications are listed under Title 21, Division 2, Chapter 16 of the California Code of Regulations, and are thus freely accessible to the general public.
  FasTrak units are used to generate 5-1-1 traffic data, using sensors and antennae placed across various freeways.
caption: FasTrak antennae that pull data used to generate 5-1-1 traffic information
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