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Testing Out Cell-Phone Viruses on a Prius

Posted by timothy on from the deep-underground-in-their-lair dept.

Mikko Hypponen writes "Couple of months ago there were rumours floating around that Bluetooth viruses could infect the on-board computers of some Lexus cars, or at least cause some visible effects on them. We took a Toyota Prius to an underground bunker and tested various Bluetooth mobile phone viruses and assorted Bluetooth attacks against the onboard computer. Results were somewhat surprising. It came as no surprise that we could not infect the car, but the Prius performed in the test even better than expected. No matter what we did the car did not react to the Bluetooth traffic at all. Cabir tried to send itself to the car and the car just did not allow the Bluetooth OBEX transfer to happen. Then, the whole car crashed (but not because of a virus)... Full story with pictures in our weblog."

4 of 196 comments (clear)

  1. Well, that's good... by ackthpt · · Score: 5, Funny

    Apart from the car crashing. Maybe a few less pints of Boddington's next time you head for the bunker, eh?

    --

    A feeling of having made the same mistake before: Deja Foobar
  2. Still At Risk by fembots · · Score: 5, Funny

    The article said "After intensive tests for all morning, the battery of the car was running low".

    Does that mean that a similar DOS attack can disable most cars in a car park?

    --
    Rock that crushes, Paper & Scissors that don't matter.
    1. Re:Still At Risk by Vellmont · · Score: 5, Funny

      Yes. This DOS attack has been known for quite a long time. It's only recently become known outside the hacker community. Some people even accidentally do it to themselves. Among laymen it's called "leaving your lights on".

      --
      AccountKiller
  3. Funny, the same thing happened... by ctl4u · · Score: 5, Funny

    With my 1979 Toyota Camry no matter what bluetooth signals I sent there was no response. Needless to say, I was shocked!