Hack Your Car

Is your car safe?  Can it be hacked?  

I just drove a car with a smart control system that had a menu-based setup screen for the car.  It was the first time I ever saw "setup your car" as a menu option -- FROM THE RADIO!  Where are we headed?

Can these systems that allow us to setup cars from the radio be hacked?  Most likely, YES!

This is a very interesting Senate Report Shaming Automakers Security.  Just how secure is your car?

We may never know how secure/insecure your car is.  For example in the UK, the government
suppressed research into how to hack cars.  Is it happening here?

This recent information is now coming to light after the Toyota revelations a few years ago about unintended acceleration:  Toyota Single Bit Flip That Kills.  Toyota tried to cover up problems with their engine control module including lying to congress and the NHTSA.  (I covered this in a previous blog post:  Toyota's Killer Software.)

Toyota is not the only car company with unintended acceleration .  Back in the 1980s, there were multiple reports of the Audi 5000 having unintended acceleration and it might have been software:  "intermittent malfunctions of the electronic control unit were observed and recorded”.

GM is recalling over 200,000 Cadillac and Chevrolet Impala cars for a breaking problem.  Some reports indicate that it is a break software glitch.  Note that the NHTSA opened an investigation last year to "investigate allegations of inappropriate autonomous braking while driving”.

Are you ready for that self-driving car?  "It's safe!  Trust Us!"