It apparently all started with a test from the CyberAuto Challenge: what would it take hack into a late model vehicle? Delphi Automotive had gathered a group of high-school and college-aged students and with just a little technical advice from the manufacturer, were turned loose and told to do their worst. One kid, a fourteen-year-old hacker, studied the undisclosed vehicle and devised his plan. That night he made a quick trip to Radio Shack, bought $15 in electronic parts, and spent the better part of the night building a circuit board. The next morning he proceeded to take control of many of the car’s functions: wipers, door locks, the remote start feature…all were at his command. He even got the lights to pulse to the music from his iPhone, while representatives from Delphi, the manufacturer and the camp stood there stunned.
Auto-hacking has recently become a hot-button topic. Since the CyberAuto Challenge incident, more tests have proven that it’s not just a fluke. German scientists have broken into BMW’s system, and 60 Minutes was able to take over a Chevrolet Impala during a DARPA test by using the OnStar system to hack into the computer control. Unlike the CyberAuto Challenge, the DARPA hack could take over vehicle functions, like brakes. Granted, DARPA’s budget is bigger than some third world countries, but if a high-school kid can electronically break into your car, that’s a big problem. While we all know the solution is to own an older car so that Junior can’t just remote-control everything, there’s lots of us that have our late-model daily beater, or the car for the wife or kids. So where do you stand on all of this?
The only hacking I’d do is to reduce that Chevy to tiny brown globules!
Seriously – the way round this is to NEVER buy a modern car that is more like a mobile computer than a means of pleasure and enjoyment.
As 90% of Bang Shift coverage features classic cars I don’t think that we should be too worried about this.
Mind it would be nice to have an auto-destruct virus to send to every modern Chevy at one time thus ridding our roads of this menace!
This isnt good. Nevermind the car theft side of it which has been proven already but what about some jackass just trying to make trouble,like they do on your home computer?This is another case of too much technology and eventually its going ruin us.
I’ll bet in the not to distant future the police will have the ability to ”zap” an escaping car and bring car chases to a halt by just killing the cars computer.
they already do… haven’t you watched the Onstar commercials?
my ZAV uses contact points and condenser… kind of hard to hack. The rest of them are pretty old. No Canbus, no satellite conversations.
Beagle’s right ! They already can … and Do . Thru MBRACE [ Mercedes system ] OnStar etc . If your car is connected … or even capable of being connected … they can track you down .. turn the motor off etc . Thats part of how the Boston bomber was tracked down . Thru the Benz he stoles MBRACE
The truly scary part of it ? You don’t even have to have the system activated or turned on . They .. can do it .. regardless of whether you’ve signed up for it or not . As long as the capability is there …. they can access it
One last dirty little insiders secret . Wanna know who else is accessing your on car system ? Your insurance companies . That way if there’s any question about a claim you’ve made they can track every movement of the car right up to the incident in order to verify what you say … and …. here’s the really ugly part … they can and do keep track of your average speed for future reference as well .
Big Brother you say ? Hah ! This is ” Brave New World ” … with us like a herd of lemmings begging for more
One big question is how long will the manufacturers be responsible for security updates for the computer? 10 years? 5? Forever?
I’ve been hacked !
Long story short the wife and I are driving our Benz down a KCMO boulevard when after passing a group of kids holding up an iPad all my doors unlocked . Looking behind I could see the kids laughing and aiming at their next target . So …. the wife being a Fed complete with badge .. I turn off .. pull around the back side of the block and we walk back like a normal couple on a stroll towards the group . Upon coming up on them I grab the iPad . Apps all over the screen .. ‘ Unlock BMW ‘ ..’ Unlock M-B ‘… ‘Unlock Cadillac ‘ etc . Almost every brand represented ! When the little ___ complained they were going to call the police the wife flashed her badge and explained that they most certainly were welcome to … but that they’d wind up in a Federal holding pen for assorted crimes if they did .
Wisely they chose to let us go .. iPad in hand . When the wife’s IT folks analyzed the iPad they found over 100 apps to .. Unlock Doors .. Start Cars .. Disable Navigation .. Hack into MBRACE , OnStar etc
So does car hacking concern me when a bunch of freaking Jr High brats have easy access to the Apps to accomplish it ?
Damn right it concerns me .
Good, that’s what you get for buying a garbage Nazi car.
Most of the possible hacks out there are along the lines of a digital lockpick – a new way for a thief to get around more sophisticated anti-theft devices and break into a car. That appears to include the kid’s gadget.
Remote hackery is not something I’m especially worried about. One, it’s much harder to pull off. Two, it’s harder for crooks to have a way to get money out of remote hacking a car compared to hauling it to a chop shop.
Great, so now I need a tin foil hat for my car.
That’s funny! 😀
I don’t have to worry, I’ll never own a hackable car.
I’m not worried at all.
It’s definitely a real concern for folks with highly sophisticated cars, but my 2bbl carb works fine without all this high-tech gee-wizardry.
Why be concerned about the inevitable? It’s going to happen.
I’m not worried, and my daily driver is a twin to the Impala in the opening pic.
That is just another reason I hate the future self driving autonomous cars, imagine someone hacking into that and taking control.
I’ve said it many times and and I’ll say it again , love my old cummins beater .
What is there to really worry about? For the most part the “hacks” that take place involve the locks. That just means that thieves have found a high tech version of a rock. For the most part nobody is hacking a car and taking the control from the driver. nothing to worry about in my opinion and just another case of fear mongering