On the Security of Digital Tachographs

Tachographs are used in most heavy vehicles in Europe to control drivers’ hours, and for secondary purposes ranging from accident investigation to the detection of fraud. Their effectiveness is under threat from increasing levels of sophisticated fraud and manipulation. We examine this in the context of recent EU proposals to move to smartcardbased tachograph systems, which are aimed at cutting fraud and improving the level of enforcement generally. We conclude that the proposed new regime will be extremely vulnerable to the wholesale forgery of smartcards and to system-level manipulation; it has the potential to lead to a large-scale breakdown in control. We then sketch some potential solutions.