Testing Out Cell-Phone Viruses on a Prius

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."

Comments

Crazy

[XFilesFMDS1013]

Reading the article, they're talking about going undergound in order to not effect any other cellphones in the area, and it stuck me as to how much is the same between a computer virus and a "physical" virus. I mean, scientists who work with e.g. bubonic plague, have to take the same cautions, i.e. not letting the virus out into the "wild", where it can spread. I suppose in a few years, many viruses will be tested like this, taking them into a underground bunker, putting them on a computer that has absolutly no connection to the outside world, and trying to find a cure for it. Then the geeks shall hold the true power.

Re:Still At Risk

[Samari711]

a better way to do this is to buy a valve tool at the local auto parts store. rather than do any permenant damage just loosen every tire's stem. Even if the owner could figure out why their tires are flat, they most likely won't have the tool on hand to fix it. even if they have a pump, the tires won't inflate and they'll be very confused. Also note that some car (especially those abominations known as Hummers) have tires that automatically inflate themselves, so doing this to one of them would result in a car with 4 flats and a dead battery :)