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Related: Editorials & Other Articles, Issue Forums, Alliance Forums, Region ForumsHackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway
by ANDY GREENBERG
I WAS DRIVING 70 mph on the edge of downtown St. Louis when the exploit began to take hold.
Though I hadnt touched the dashboard, the vents in the Jeep Cherokee started blasting cold air at the maximum setting, chilling the sweat on my back through the in-seat climate control system. Next the radio switched to the local hip hop station and began blaring Skee-lo at full volume. I spun the control knob left and hit the power button, to no avail. Then the windshield wipers turned on, and wiper fluid blurred the glass.
As I tried to cope with all this, a picture of the two hackers performing these stunts appeared on the cars digital display: Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, wearing their trademark track suits. A nice touch, I thought.
The Jeeps strange behavior wasnt entirely unexpected. Id come to St. Louis to be Miller and Valaseks digital crash-test dummy, a willing subject on whom they could test the car-hacking research theyd been doing over the past year. The result of their work was a hacking techniquewhat the security industry calls a zero-day exploitthat can target Jeep Cherokees and give the attacker wireless control, via the Internet, to any of thousands of vehicles. Their code is an automakers nightmare: software that lets hackers send commands through the Jeeps entertainment system to its dashboard functions, steering, brakes, and transmission, all from a laptop that may be across the country.
To better simulate the experience of driving a vehicle while its being hijacked by an invisible, virtual force, Miller and Valasek refused to tell me ahead of time what kinds of attacks they planned to launch from Millers laptop in his house 10 miles west. Instead, they merely assured me that they wouldnt do anything life-threatening. Then they told me to drive the Jeep onto the highway. Remember, Andy, Miller had said through my iPhones speaker just before I pulled onto the Interstate 64 on-ramp, no matter what happens, dont panic.
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http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/
broiles
(1,367 posts)cyberswede
(26,117 posts)Really interesting article! Thanks for posting.
Throd
(7,208 posts)bluedigger
(17,086 posts)Of course, I have to roll down the window of my Wrangler to let myself out, so there's that.
Eleanors38
(18,318 posts)Gidney N Cloyd
(19,834 posts)hunter
(38,311 posts)This "feature" arises from car rental companies' and lenders' desire to locate and immobilize cars for repossession when the bills are not paid.
After a car is paid for in full, I'm certain law enforcement agencies have found other uses for the system.
Automobiles were the greatest tool ever devised for restricting peoples' privacy and freedom. Many people never get far away from an automobile associated with them, either their own car at home, or rental cars when they fly to other cities.
Modern technology has only made the problem more frightening, everything from license plate and cell phone network scanning technologies which track a car's movement, to huge instantly searchable databases.
Big Brother is watching you!
No Vested Interest
(5,166 posts)Arugula Latte
(50,566 posts)yellowcanine
(35,699 posts)Wipers turned on for no reason, shift linkage would lock up without warning and I could not get it into gear unless I turned the truck off, put it into gear, and started it back up again. Then there was the headlights which would just turn off on their own. All I had to do though was flick the switch off and on, though. No problem.