(Photo credit: CNet) – As if you needed another reason to NOT plug some sort of werido insurance monitoring device into your car, here’s another. Engineers have used one of these devices, plugged into a Corvette to essentially malfunction the car’s braking system. With the wireless access to the OBD-II port provided by a device called Metronome which is made by a French company called Mobile Devices and used by a new insurance company called Motor Mile. You know what these devices do. They measure how much you drive, how fast you drive, and obviously they have the ability to access any and all information from your OBD-II port. If you want to go full inspector Cluseau on your kid or you are an old lady who drives like 16 miles a year and doesn’t want to pay much for insurance these things could be a good idea. If you are anyone else? Terrible.
A bunch of companies are not “offering” this “service” under the guise that it will save people money. There are multiple different devices in use but the one thing that links them all together is the fact that they all broadcast what your car is doing in a wireless fashion and logic dictates that if there is information going out there must be a way to get some information in and that is exactly what happened here. An outfit called Wired reports hacked the device and then used text messages sent to a specific number to take control of the car. All of this was done at low speeds as to illustrate what they were doing but not put anyone at risk. Why use a Corvette? For the obvious reason that it would get lots of attention. It is vitally important to note that this is not an issue limited to the car. Basically any car that has this particular device in it from whichever company or country you can think of may be at risk. The guys who did the test believe that other devices that do similar things may also be at risk.
We’re reasonably certain that a 0.0% portion of the BangShift universe actually uses this junk but if you do, you now know at least one of the overt risks. The other risks, like the loss of the freedom of mobility we love in this country and other nefarious things are a little less clear. Your chances of having your car hacked are about a low as seeing Elvis and Marilyn Monroe making out on the back of a unicorn while Bigfoot runs a video camera but this is a fascinating story about our technological world today.
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