We’ve seen them all: DOOM on a microwave, a fridge, an ATM, a digital ad hoarding, even a Raspberry Pi. But did you image DOOM could run on a tractor?
Wired reports that white-hat hacker “Sick Codes” has presented a new jailbreak for John Deere tractors at last week’s Defcon event.
To illustrate how the jailbreak allows multiple models to be controlled via the touchscreen interfaces, he installed DOOM.
Of course, there is a serious side to all of this. John Deere (among others) is making it very difficult for farmers to repair their gear, instead forcing them to rely on specialists who might take a while to arrive in the middle of nowhere (which is, after all, where most farms are). Sick Codes had previous upset a few farmers with his previous presentation in 2021 which revealed how insecure tractor applications are.
This time around, he aimed to redress the balance, citing Right to Repair and the importance of food security.
“Farmers prefer the older equipment simply because they want reliability. They don’t want stuff to go wrong at the most important part of the year when they have to pull stuff out of the ground. So that’s what we should all want too. We want farmers to be able to repair their stuff for when things go wrong, and now that means being able to repair or make decisions about the software in their tractors.”
And what’s to stop farmer playing DOOM between harvests?
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Christian Cawley is a writer and editor who covers consumer electronics, IT, and entertainment media. He has written for publications such as Computer Weekly, Linux Format, MakeUseOf.com, and Tech Radar.
He also produces podcasts, has a cigar box guitar, and of course, loves retro gaming.