Abstract

The purpose of this thesis is to determine the threats that social media and social navigation (SMSN) pose to the surface transportation system. The research catalogs the types of threats and SMSN's vulnerabilities, and uncovers terrorists' malign use of social media for intelligence gathering. Academic researchers have already discovered threats in social navigation platforms such as Waze and Google Maps; Sybil and man-in-the-middle attacks allow malicious actors to create traffic congestion and alternate vehicle routing. While this has not yet caused an attributable security concern to the vehicle surface transportation system, in the hands of malicious actors, these vulnerabilities could be exploited to orchestrate an attack that devastates infrastructure and risks human lives. http://archive.org/details/hackingyourridei1094550604 Transportation Services Manager, City of Los Altos, CA Approved for public release; distribution is unlimited.