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The Future of Hi-Tech Auto Theft
NicknamesAreStupid writes "Over the past twenty years, car theft has declined as new models incorporated electronic security methods that thwarted simple hot-wiring. The tide may now be turning, as cars become the next Windows PC. The Center for Automobile Embedded Systems Security has posted an interesting paper from UCSD and UW that describes how modern cars can be cracked (PDF). Unlike the old days of window jimmies, these exploits range from attacks through the CD or iPod port to cellular attacks that take inventory of thousands of cars and offer roaming thieves Yelp-like choices ('our favorite is mint green with leather') with unlocked doors and running engines."
It's not clear to me why the CD player should even be on the same network as the engine-related microcontrollers.
10 PRINT CHR$(205.5+RND(1)); : GOTO 10
It's a stupid flamebait analogy. The summary goes like this
* Windows PCs are as secure as a piece of tissue paper (LOL, for teh win!)
* Cars with their increasingly computerized systems are now becoming vulnerable to hacking.
* Windows PCs are vulnerable to hacking.
The concept is that electronicly secured cars become wide-spread and common. It was why Windows PCs were attacked with viruses first. Now that Mac is more common, you see more attacks against them. It's why you see malicious Android apps. Soon, you'll start seeing malicious car apps......
It's all about wide spread opportunity. You need a lower percentage of successful attacks as the number of targets increases.
I think you're (somewhat) wrong. Initially it won't mean much, but just like pre-packaged malware suites for credit card fraud (ZeuS being the biggest example) point-and-drool interfaces for car theft will be made eventually.
Not a sentence!
The first guy to hack a car's PC needs to be skilled. Turn that into a black-market android app and all of a sudden the middle-school dropout who had trouble learning how to jimmy or hotwire can steal a car with the swipe of a touchscreen. It's just a matter of time.
What happens if the app store decides to disable your car, though?
Check your premises.
always wondered. you can pretty much drive by some OBD-II ports... bmw can be started even by my old obd-I.
and lots of people buy those bluetooth dongles just so they can have an extra tachometer on their iphones on the dash.
may not be so usefull for stealing the car... as i doubt it has power when the car is off... but may very well be the case, i don't know. But imagine sending the acelerate signal on the highway to everyone around you that has such device