Now it looks as if ‘vehicle security’ will be a new trending concern after the recent fiery death of reporter Michael Hastings who was “onto a big story” and needed to “go off the rada[r] for a bit.”, according to an email sent to members of the press and Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs. Hastings was considered by some a mainstream reporter who was ‘going against the grain’ John Markoff reporting for the New York Times wrote, “Their latest study was the first time that independent computer security researchers have tried to show how potential attackers could hack into a car from a remote location. As in their first experiment, the research teams bought a car they described as a representative example of a moderately priced sedan. (They declined to identify the brand, saying that advanced telematics are rapidly becoming commonplace within the automotive industry.) “In the case of every major manufacturer, if they do not have this capacity in their mainstream products, they’re about to,” said Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor in the department of computer science and engineering at the University of Washington. For example, services like General Motors’ OnStar system, Toyota’s Safety Connect, Lexus’s Enform, Ford’s Sync, BMW’s Assist and Mercedes Benz’s Mbrace all use a cellular connection embedded in the vehicle to provide a variety of automated and call center support services to a driver. These subscription services make it possible to track a car’s location, unlock doors remotely and control other functions. In their remote experiment, the researchers were able to undermine the security protecting the cellular phone in the vehicle they bought and then insert malicious software. This allowed them to send commands to the car’s electronic control unit — the nerve center of a vehicle’s electronics system — which in turn made it possible to override various vehicle controls.
Posted on: Sun, 23 Jun 2013 23:43:48 +0000
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