Technology

New car so fancy it could get hacked

Learn more in today\'s cybersecurity update.

Federal News Network Staff

September 1, 2010 5:08 pm

2 min read

wfedstaff | June 3, 2015 1:28 pm

Cybersecurity Update – Tune in weekdays at 30 minutes past the hour for the latest cybersecurity news on the Federal Drive with Tom Temin and Amy Morris (6-10 a.m.) and the DorobekINSIDER with Chris Dorobek (3-7 p.m.). social engineering — and it is based on the premise that you are the weakest link — all of us. We spoke to the team behind a social engineering capture-the-flag competition held at the DefCon cyber-security event in Las Vegas. And, we’ve been looking into what they learned from that competition. Chris Hadnagy is the Operations Manager for the Offensive Security company. He helped to organize the contest. And he tells me that the companies they tested did not perform very well. The “social engineers” were very successful in getting workers to divulge a variety of information. Maybe most disturbing though, was their willingness to open web browsers to a specific URL.

Here is another thing to worry about — that fancy, new car, consider might be so high-tech, it might actually be hackable. Security experts warn that cars are probably not a high-priority target for most hackers. But CNET reports that car hacking is starting to move beyond just an idea. That’s because of new wireless technologies that are out there, and an increasing dependence on computers to make cars safer, more energy efficient, and modern. Researchers at the University of South Carolina and Rutgers University tested two tire pressure monitoring systems, and found they could turn the low-tire-pressure warning lights on and off from another car – traveling from 120 feet away. Another potential can of worms being opened is the fact that cars may follow the example of smart phones and Web services by getting their own customized third-party apps. An example of that is the use of video cameras in police cars and school buses. And, it brings up a bunch of security and privacy issues. Researchers did a penetration test on a police agency that has some in-car cameras. Because of vulnerabilities in the way they were made, they were able to remotely access the cameras, and hijack the audio and video streams from the police car. Chief technology officer at Green Hills Software says they’re trying to raise awareness before things get really serious. Right now, some car makers are building all this sophisticated software into cars without much thought to security. That, security experts warn, is a recipe for disaster.

Check out all of Federal News Radio’s coverage of cybersecurity issues here.

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