Nightsleeper on TF1: Is the series real? Experts answer

Nightsleeper on TF1: Is the series real? Experts answer

This Wednesday, October 9, TF1 broadcasts the first two episodes of Nightsleeper, a channel-wide series that follows the break-in and hijacking of a night train connecting Glasgow to London.

Over the course of 6 episodes, which take place in near real time, Joe Roag (Joe Cole), an ex-cop, will try to stop the train and save all the passengers with the help of country director Abby Eysgarth (Alexandra Roach). cyber security. An exciting scenario, which, according to experts, will not be very real at all.

Is Nightsleeper real?

In Nightsleeper, the train is remotely controlled by a computer device attached to the wiring of one of the carriages. If this disaster scenario suggests a series rich in twists and turns, it sometimes ignores realism, as an expert pointed out during the series’ broadcast in England.

Jake Moore, Global Cyber ​​Security Advisor at technology company ESET, told our colleagues MailOnline That this scenario was improbable. “The train can be accessed remotely and run autonomously – it is unlikely that the trains will run completely remotely due to the level of danger.

Hackers who can target trains are more likely to disrupt rail services, for example by tampering with signaling and remotely operated systems, than risking lives..”

The closest real-life incident to the Nightsleeper scenario occurred in Poland in August 2023, when a series of attacks paralyzed about twenty trains. Most of the country’s locomotives are actually equipped with an emergency stop system, which in the event of an accident allows a radio signal to be sent to automatically stop the vehicle.

Hackers used this system to stop trains. A case that differs from the series broadcast on TF1. “There are still threats to the national infrastructure and there is a very visual representation of these threats using the rail network“, added Jake Moore, who sees the series as a good way to raise awareness.

A simple brake problem?

For his part, another security expert, Alex Cowan, praised the realism of the hacks, but still pointed to the fact that the scriptwriters do not fully understand how the train’s emergency brakes work.

The latter cannot actually be blocked as it was presented in the series. “Emergency brakes are different from regular brakes and work very differently from car brakes. They are on by default and must be released before the train can move.”

In order for the brakes to be released, the systems must be in a certain state and maintain that state. If, for example, the train loses power, the brakes revert to default.One thing is for sure, regardless of the realism, Nightsleeper remains a fascinating action series that will keep you going until the last minute.

Catch the first two episodes of Nightsleeper this Wednesday 9 October from 9.10pm on TF1.

Source: Allocine

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