FEATURE
Car Hacking:
Your future car is
In the upcoming open-world action title
Watch Dogs, a vigilante is able to hack into
any piece of electronic equipment within
futuristic Chicago, including cars. This may
seem like the premise of a good piece of
?ction, but the facts are that hackers are
already able to take control of your vehicle.
A
s technology continues to develop and permeate every sector
of human activity, the humble car has not been left behind when
it comes to progress. Luxury saloons have always been at the
forefront of technological development and this segment introduced
the concept of the in-vehicle infotainment system back in 2001 when
BMW unveiled the first generation of its iDrive system.
In-vehicle infotainment systems allows the driver to control the main
features of the car, including climate control, the audio system,
satellite navigation, and Bluetooth-based hands-free calling. It
unfortunately also offers a point of access to hackers. And since these
type of systems are no longer limited to expensive executive cars and
have started to make their way onto more common vehicles such as
Ford’s passenger cars, there are more targets available.
Modern cars further employ a plethora of electrical and electronic
components for commonly utilised car functions the likes of
accelerating, braking, opening or closing the windows.
Where there’s an exploit, there’s a hacker
During May of this year, the US Department of Homeland Security
issued a security advisory warning motorists that certain flaws within
the wireless Bluetooth systems integrated in their cars could be
exploited by hackers. According to the department, hackers might
be able to assume control over some of the functions of cars. This
includes causing your fuel gauge to indicate full when your car is
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October 2013 | TechSmart