next
actually very nearly empty, or, more alarmingly, disabling the brakes
whilst you are cruising down the highway.
This warning was not without reason, since in July, two Statesidebased security experts, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, proved just
how vulnerable modern cars are, when they managed to hack two of
the most popular vehicles in the US. After receiving a research grant
from the US government, the pair developed methods of attacking
critical systems in the Toyota Prius and Ford Escape SUV.
The pair employed an analogue hacking method, whereby they
connected their laptop into a port on the cars, which is the same port
vehicle mechanics use to check the condition of your car when it goes
in for a service. They went on to release the detailed blueprints of their
techniques at the 2013 Def Con hacking convention in Las Vegas
during August, making this info public record.
Autonomous cars leave door open to control by outside
forces
Of greater concern is that hackers don’t need to break into your
vehicle to hack it. Instead they will exploit your reliance on mobile
devices by attacking the vehicle’s Bluetooth connections, CDequipped sound system or even safety tech the likes of the tire
pressure monitoring system.
A case for this point was made by Australian hacker, Zoz, at the 2013
October 2013 | TechSmart
Security experts Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek
Defcon convention. Zoz asserted that the hacking of autonomous
cars in particular was an unavoidable security threat of the future.
Autonomous cars such as Google’s self-driving car and MercedesBenz’s S500 Intelligent Drive make use of a wealth of sensors in order
to act like a virtual chauffeur by driving themselves without requiring
any input from passengers.
THE HACKING OF AUTONOMOUS CARS IN
PARTICULAR IS AN UNAVOIDABLE SECURITY
THREAT OF THE FUTURE.
According to Zoz, hackers could theoretically assume control of these
kinds of cars over a wireless network, overriding their sensors while
getting the vehicle’s infotainment system to display false info to the
passengers. This would suggest that criminals can hack into a selfdriving car to deliver the powerless victim to their doorstep.
To the point
Despite the seriousness of the threat of modern cars being vulnerable
to hacking attacks, the issue is not being given much attention by
car manufacturers as criminals have not begun to capitalise on these
exploits. However, given that the methods of Miller, Valasek, and Zoz have
been published and are accessible to hackers from all around the globe,
that may very well soon change. Consider yourself duly warned. [HD]
09