Hacker Threats to Autos Possible
Posted September 13, 2011
The cars of today that are being made smarter with all this Internet technology are just zooming their way into dangerous hacker territory. This is a warning that has been put out by McAfee, a security giant. Car manufacturers are enhancing their cars with chips that are embedded and sensors for a variety of reasons but the security is lacking. The threat of malicious manipulation and of a hacker attack is increasing as more of the functions are embedded in the digital technology in cars.
It would be bad enough if you had your laptop computer or email compromised but just imagine having your car hacked. This could mean risks to your personal safety. You will find these embedded chips on almost all parts of cars of today. This list includes brakes, power seats, airbags, cruise controls, communication systems, anti-theft gadgets, and more. The computers that are controlling these various functions can be attacked if they get into the cars and sometimes even from far away.
It is even possible to start a car or even unlock the car just by sending commands from Smartphones in the form of a text message. Even the sensors that are used to find cars by roadside emergency services can give cyber stalkers a way to track your movements. Vehicles could be disabled remotely, your personal data could be stolen through a Bluetooth connection, and even navigation systems could be disrupted by hackers.
At this time, according to McAfee, there have not been any indications that these computer vulnerabilities in cars have been taken advantage of by hackers.
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