

Hackers Can Disable a Sniper Rifle–Or Change Its Target - chinathrow
http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-can-disable-sniper-rifleor-change-target/

======
drivingmenuts
Just FYI, Tracking Point is apparently out of business. Their offices are shut
down and empty.

So, at least some of the worries of their hardware being insecure are moot.

I am well acquainted with one of the neighbors in that building.

~~~
chinathrow
Not so moot no - what about the devices sold? What about security updates
then?

------
marcoperaza
Another example of security not being taken seriously. The proliferation of
IoT devices could end up being a disaster if security isn't a primary
consideration in their development.

~~~
hga
Indeed, it's one of the reasons I'm neither betting on IoT being big any time
soon, or engaging in it myself (heck, Heinlein had similar advice in _The Moon
is a Harsh Mistress_ in 1966).

The saving grace is as the CEO comments:

 _“The shooter’s got to pull the rifle’s trigger, and the shooter is
responsible for making sure it’s pointed in a safe direction. It’s my
responsibility to make sure my scope is pointed where my gun is pointing,”
McHale says. “The fundamentals of shooting don’t change even if the gun is
hacked.”_

As long as you're following the Four Rules
([https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper#Firearms_safety](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jeff_Cooper#Firearms_safety))
at worst these hacks will brick your rifle or make you miss, but in practice
they wouldn't make you hit something you're not willing to hit.

~~~
marcoperaza
That's not a saving grace at all and I'm surprised they would try to downplay
this given the potential liability. It's totally reasonable that there's
someone/something you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT want to hit very close to your
intended target. This exploit can make you inadvertently hit that target
instead of the one that you aimed for.

~~~
hga
_It 's totally reasonable that there's someone/something you ABSOLUTELY DO NOT
want to hit very close to your intended target._

If that's true, _you don 't take the shot_, with rare exceptions like hostage
shield situations and war, which these guns are not suitable for.

The rules exist for many reasons, including that we don't entirely trust the
gun or ourselves. These guns provide additional failure modes, but the
existing ones are bad enough.

------
neilwillgettoit
[http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/robert-
farago/break...](http://www.thetruthaboutguns.com/2015/05/robert-
farago/breaking-tracking-point-going-bust/) It looks like tracking point is
closing up shop.

------
sjg007
Will make a great movie..

~~~
wmil
I'm pretty sure Eraser (1996), staring Schwarzenegger, had a smart rail gun
that auto-targeted hearts.

It might have even been hacked or jammed in the climax, my memory of the movie
is a bit fuzzy.

~~~
zachrose
I don't think the guns failed, but eventually Arnold got one for each arm and
shot them both from the hip:

[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thLez2LmlKU&t=1m43s](http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thLez2LmlKU&t=1m43s)

