Like it or not, more and more computers are making their way into our cars. Depending on what car you drive, a computer could control everything from your infotainment system, your throttle, and even your steering. An alarmist newForbesstory shows what could happen if someone hacked into your car and took control while you were driving.
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The video starts off with a noble purpose: to show that with cars increasingly reliant on computers, they become more vulnerable to hackers (we assumeForbesmeans 4Chan,Anonymous, and North Korea). In this case, the two hackers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, are most certainlynotNorth Korea. They're two middle-aged web security engineers who have modified a 2010 Ford Escape and 2010 Toyota Prius to be hackable, with the help of a Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) grant that has a goal of rooting out security vulnerabilities in modern cars.
The duo has torn apart the dashboard of their project Prius and Escape, and plugged their laptop into the OBD-II port. From there, as the video demonstrates, they can control anything from the seatbelts, to the horn, to even the car's brakes and steering.
Though the tone is a bit inflammatory (the apparent purpose of theForbesstory and accompanying video is to "pressure car companies to secure their products…to show exactly what can be done with a multi-ton missile on wheels"), the video is nonetheless interesting, worth a watch, and dare-I-say -- funny.
For those worried that they may be driving a "multi-ton missile on wheels," relax. Though some scientists claim to have hacked into cars wirelessly, the only way to really get into your car's ECU is by plugging directly in to your car. For thosestillscared, buy a classic. We hear those are hack-proof.
Check out the Forbes video below.
Source: Forbes, YouTube
I generally like writing—especially when it’s about cars—but I hate writing about myself. So instead of blathering on about where I was born (New York City, in case you were wondering) or what type of cars I like (all of ’em, as long as it has a certain sense of soul or purpose), I’ll answer the one question I probably get most, right after what’s your favorite car (see above): How’d you get that job? Luck. Well, mostly. Hard work, too. Lots of it. I sort of fell into my major of journalism/mass communication at St. Bonaventure University and generally liked it a lot. In order to complete my degree senior year, we had to spend our last two semesters on some sort of project. Seeing as I loved cars and already spent a good portion of my time reading about cars on sites such as Motor Trend, I opted to create a car blog. I started a Tumblr, came up with a car-related name (The Stig’s American Cousin), signed up for media access on a bunch of manufacturer’s websites, and started writing. I did everything from cover new trim levels to reviewing my friends’ cars. I even wrote a really bad April Fool’s Day post about the next Subaru Impreza WRX being Toyota-Corolla-based. It was fun, and because it was fun, it never felt like work. Sometime after my blog had gotten off the ground, I noticed that Motor Trend was hiring for what’s now our Daily News Team. I sent in my résumé and a link to my blog. I got the job, and two weeks after graduation I made the move from New York to California. I’ve been happily plugging away at a keyboard—and driving some seriously awesome hardware—ever since.
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