Car hacks could turn commutes into a scene from Speed

[Lordbob75]

Car hacks could turn commutes into a scene from Speed

Researchers at the University of Washington and University of California-San Diego have examined the multitudinous computer systems that run modern cars, discovering that they're easily broken into with alarming results. Hackers can disable the brakes of moving vehicles, lock the key in the ignition to prevent the engine from being turned off, jam all the door locks, and make the engine run faster. Less dangerously, they can control the radio, heating, and air conditioning, or just endlessly honk the horn. Their attacks used physical access to the federally mandated On-Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) port, typically located under the dashboard. This provided access to another piece of federally mandated equipment, the Controller Area Network (CAN) bus. With this access, they could control the various Electronic Control Units (ECUs) located throughout the vehicle, with scant few restrictions.

Source: Car hacks could turn commutes into a scene from Speed

NOTE: I found this significant enough to place in the News section, even though it is not related to SF. I have a feeling the mods will move it though, but I just wanted to point that out.

~Lordbob

 

[Airbot]

If you know it shouldn't be posted in the News Forum, then don't post it there. The News Forum is really supposed to only be about Windows 7 related news. Please don't make extra work for us.

 

[Lordbob75]

If you know it shouldn't be posted in the News Forum, then don't post it there. The News Forum is really supposed to only be about Windows 7 related news. Please don't make extra work for us.

Alright, sorry. I just thought it rather significant news.
Next time, chillout room it will be.

Sorry...

~Lordbob

 

[CarlTR6]

Well one could do most of this - tamper with the brakes, tamper with engine speed, etc - before the computer chips. This is just a different way of doing the same old stuff. I have played the the computers on my own vehicles and flashed the chips.

 

[zzz2496]

In near feature, we'll see "Android for automotive", complete with internal Firewall, HIPS, LDAP authentication, peer to peer ethernet network for in-car ECM, full logging capability with black box onboard, and 20secs boot up time...

I need my sleep...

zzz2496

 

[Lordbob75]

In near feature, we'll see "Android for automotive", complete with internal Firewall, HIPS, LDAP authentication, peer to peer ethernet network for in-car ECM, full logging capability with black box onboard, and 20secs boot up time...

I need my sleep...

zzz2496

That would certainly be interesting.

Something tells me that might be something I work on in the not-so-distant future....

~Lordbob

 

[zzz2496]

Honestly, I can't imagine a street legal car that has telemetry logging capacity of a F1 race car, complete with black box... That'd be SOO COOOLL... And to upgrade the "Android for Automotive", you need to use a special RED key that contains a special data stream (filled by the factory) to authenticate that the flashing process is not an accidental attempt... Ignition at standby, engine off, ignition key at "Flash" position, special key inserted and at "Flash Authorization mode", once the onboard computer says "OK", turn both keys to "Initiate Flashing process"... that is SOOO VERYYYY COOOLLLL...

Got a new brake master (complete with controller), plug it to the "ECM network switch", it will authenticate (must be done by a certified technician), turn the ignition key + authentication key to "Add hardware" position, the onboard touch interface of the ECM will confirm that it found a new device, need a pass code (the passcode is displayed at the brake master controller's LCD, generated randomly, changing every 30 secs). Once the code challange process completed, the brake master will expose it's features to the core ECM, parameters, methods, etc, all without a driver of any kind... *drool*.

In events like engine failure, plug a PC to the "ECM network switch", contact the ECM via SSH/web interface (ignition key + authentication key must be at "service" position), and in no time, the onboard text to speech module will start reading /var content, and last 30 minutes telemetry data exported as spreadsheet document...*my head starts spinning...*

zzz2496

 

[Prisoner]

You need sleep.

If they start putting 3G built in capabilities, which they probably do, but I dunno... then this "hacking" scenarios (I'd not call it hacking... most certainly the wrong term) could be more dangerous... some out-of-the-blue person you don't know at all could start remotely doing these things to your car, and you'd not have a clue how to stop it.

This is kinda why I prefer older cars. Easier to fix at home, and a slightly less chance of getting hacked on the way to work...

 

[zzz2496]

You need sleep.

If they start putting 3G built in capabilities, which they probably do, but I dunno... then this "hacking" scenarios (I'd not call it hacking... most certainly the wrong term) could be more dangerous... some out-of-the-blue person you don't know at all could start remotely doing these things to your car, and you'd not have a clue how to stop it.

This is kinda why I prefer older cars. Easier to fix at home, and a slightly less chance of getting hacked on the way to work...

Ahahaha

That will be the new term in automotive network security terminology (if there's such thing).

Thanks for the good laugh... *still trying to stop laughing*

zzz2496

 

[Prisoner]

I aim (or type) to please.