Car Jackers, now Car Hackers? Detroit [aka the Auto Industry] faces Cyber War

[Lowell]

Just when our cars are getting all wireless, bluetoothed, internet connected and remote keyed, the thorns are appearing among the roses.

Our cars have become a chaos of micro-chips, computers, wireless entertainment and 'smart' safety features. But that also creates several points of entry for hackers as this AP article describes.

Why car-jack and face assault charges when you can pop open doors and clean out the contents, maybe even drive away the car? My Buick has a smart phone app that let's me do the first. It lets me start the car too, but it still requires a key to drive it away -- for now anyway.

Maybe we should hang onto those old analog pre-80's cars if we can still remember how to turn a key to open a door.

Automotive Cyber Security - now there's a startup idea.

[ndavies]

At the current moment, This is mostly fear mongering by people who have something to sell. Even with the correct tools it is extremely difficult to hack a car. [[My day job is in making the correct tools.)

Currently in 99% of production vehicles, you need a hard connection to the OBD2 located under the Steering wheel or an exposed CAN module connector to enable the hacks. You need to physically touch a vehicle for a decent amount of time to hack it. Most vehicle drivers would notice a wire or computer pod next to their knee where there had never ever been one before. Also if a hacker has access to the interior of your car there are far easier and more reliable ways to hack/disable your car. A pair of wire cutters or a liquid pored into the wrong container could do far more damage.

The car-jacker will continue to have far more luck with a gun than a laptop.

Tesla is the only vehicle company I know of that can update control software wirelessly. All major automakers require a hard connection to the CAN bus in the vehicle to update the software. There is usually a gateway in between the infotainment/phone system and the vehicle control system. The gateway stops programming commands from coming from anywhere except the ODB2 connector

I would worry more about what the government is having the auto companies put into those into those modules than any hacker by the side of the road. Can't wait for the insurance companies to start pulling the data from the black boxes or until V2V communication happens and that light pole you just drove by is issuing you a speeding ticket.

[Lowell]

Thanks for the correction Jimaz. Can always count on you. I have corrected it.

Ndavies I hear you re the government and the black boxes.

However I do not share your confidence about automotive cyber-security. There are dozens of chips that are aging with software that is not updated let alone shielded. Hacks against far more secure systems are accomplished all the time. And that's before some disgruntled Snowden-style leaker give away the keys to the databases.

It can't happen... until it does.

The CIA, MI5 or 6, whatever number they are now at, should be capable of such mischief. I would be disappointed in them if they weren't. [Strange how Princess Diana's Mercedes suddenly accelerated to over 100 MPH.]

When it comes to the growing security apparatus I frequently hear the line, "Hey I have nothing to hide". I like to reply, "Well then I'm sure you won't mind having a your car configured such that whenever you exceed the speed limit you are automatically issued a speeding ticket." After all we want law and order and can use the revenue.

[Jimaz]

Looks like fun. Digital Carjackers Show Off New Attacks