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Thread ID: 122551 2011-12-29 17:05:00 Car Hacks? SurferJoe46 (51) PC World Chat
Post ID Timestamp Content User
1251135 2011-12-29 17:05:00 Because of consumer demand for entertainment, convenience and safety features in cars, automakers in recent years have greatly beefed up the technology in their vehicles. It's not unusual for luxury autos to sport 70 computerized control units -- many featuring microchips made by Silicon Valley companies -- that monitor everything from the engine, transmission and headlights to the cabin temperature, air bags and cruise control.

Some cars even park themselves, or automatically brake to prevent collisions. But their various wireless connections can enable hackers located some distance away to electronically infiltrate an automobile and take virtual control of it, experts have determined.

In a September report about the "emerging risks in automotive system security," McAfee described the case last year of a disgruntled former employee of a Texas used-car dealership. By accessing the system the dealership used to remotely deactivate cars whose buyers failed to make payments, he created mayhem by blaring the horns and shutting off the engines of more than 100 vehicles.

Other problems could be coming down the road.

Imagine this nightmarish possibility: al-Qaida terrorists remotely disabling the brakes on thousands of cars racing down a Bay Area freeway during the morning commute, leading to massive chaos, death and destruction. Implausible? Maybe not, some experts warn.

As cars and trucks have become laden with brainy devices to control everything from air bags to crash-avoidance systems, the vehicles have become increasingly vulnerable to cyberattacks, according to recent studies by university researchers and security companies.

LINK::: www.siliconvalley.com
SurferJoe46 (51)
1251136 2011-12-29 22:15:00 As soon as I saw "McAfee" was pushing this article I lost interest. It would worry me if all these systems were using Windows. mikebartnz (21)
1251137 2011-12-30 01:36:00 As soon as I saw "McAfee" was pushing this article I lost interest. It would worry me if all these systems were using Windows.

Where's the +1 button?

Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm sure someone will do) but aren't a lot of embedded systems running off a Linux kernel (i.e. safe as houses)?
johcar (6283)
1251138 2011-12-30 02:11:00 Correct me if I'm wrong (as I'm sure someone will do) but aren't a lot of embedded systems running off a Linux kernel (i.e. safe as houses)?
Some I gather are running Windows but I think those are just the entertainment systems.
mikebartnz (21)
1251139 2011-12-30 02:16:00 Some I gather are running Windows but I think those are just the entertainment systems.

Ahh. Windows CE. Last time I flew to and from Melbourne (2010), the planes had entertainment systems embedded in the back of each seat, running Windows CE. Buggy and slow! Horrible! I hope Air NZ have upgraded since then...
johcar (6283)
1251140 2011-12-30 03:24:00 The popularity of car entertainment system,Before the travel,the preparation of car entertainment devices is of great importance. I recently bought a car DVD (http://www.12vcity.com) and dvr online,felling good. momona (16660)
1251141 2011-12-30 04:27:00 Begone spammer (reported) johcar (6283)
1251142 2011-12-30 04:53:00 Yup - another captcha failure.

Oh! No captcha? Pity.
SurferJoe46 (51)
1251143 2011-12-30 07:44:00 Spammers are bad, unless you compare them with McAfee - then they seem relatively reasonable. R2x1 (4628)
1251144 2011-12-30 13:04:00 Air NZ now use a custom linux distro. Still buggy and slow although thats probably due to hardware as well. Once mine got stuck in a boot loop for 14 hours on my way from aucks to China... lucky there was no one next to me. Loooong boring flight if there had! The Error Guy (14052)
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