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After Progressive Insurance's Snapshot Hacked, Manufacturer Has Been, Too
An anonymous reader writes: Progressive Insurance sells a tracking device called Snapshot that is advertised as a "little device [that] turns your safe driving into savings." However Snapshot itself has been hacked, and Xirgo Technologies, which makes Snapshot, is currently hacked due to out-of-date software on their website — and has been that way since at least May 5th of 2015. Given that Chrysler just did a recall of 1.4 million cars, people should really think twice before blindly trusting the safety of their cars to any random company, especially if that company can't even keep their WordPress up-to-date or remove hacked code from their site.
I wonder what people are thinking (if they are capable of thinking at all) when they put such Big Brother device into their car port. For me the showstopper was when I read that Progressive has no responsibility if their device fries car electronics, and some people claim it happened. Then I found that other insurance companies give the same or lower rate as Progressive "reduced" rate. So what is the point of this? You need to let them track you just to get normal insurance rate, and take responsibility for their crappy hardware. Switching insurance company is much simpler.
First make it optional for a discount.
Then start advertising with that price and charging penaltys if you don't have one.
Then we make it mandatory for everyone.
And every company will do it. Because nobody wants to be left out of the gambling odds bonus.
I wondered how long it would take. The auto industry has always been primitive in the technology space, partially due to the limited capabilities of their platforms. However, that places dangerous machinery in the hands of developers from the 1990s.
What's nice is that solutions like the wireless APs in GM cars and direct interfaces to the OBD-II system open up that previously closed environment to malicious attackers from the 21st century. I'm certain, however, that none of THEM remember the history of their sector, so it should slow them down by a few minutes in terms of shaking their heads and muttering, "seriously?" before they proceed.