Everyone Needs an Internet "Kill Switch" ...

[Rael]

Consumer Watchdog issued a report finding all the top 2020 cars have Internet connections to safety critical systems that leave them vulnerable to fleet wide hacks, and that a fleet wide hack at rush-hour could result in a 9-11 scale catastrophe with approximately 3,000 deaths.

The report, "Kill Switch: Why Connected Cars Can Be Killing Machines And How To Turn Them Off" [KILL SWITCH 7-29-19_0.pdf] reveals that automakers have disclosed the high risk of such hacks to their investors, but are keeping the public in the dark as they market new features based on Internet connections. For example, Ford disclosed to the SEC in its 10K filing that the company and its suppliers have been the subject of a malicious hack, but the public is blind to the facts.

Here's the kicker: the report recommends that automakers install a 50-cent Internet "kill switch" to protect against the threat. Seems so cost-effective as to be a no-brainer; we have them on computers that aren’t built into cars.

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[TheReaper]

I'm not worried.

 

[frank s]

Run away !

Wait... You can't.

O, well.

 

[UserName]

O, well.

I think you misspelled that intentionally.

 

[Ebm]

Sounds like they need to start installing a VPN on all these so called "smart cars" with internet connections...

 

[tokuzumi]

Real life Watch Dogs CTOS

 

[EPTS550]

I'm not afraid of my car taking off on its own. I leave my car parked in neutral. Lol

 

[Norm Peterson]

While this is a big worry I think the bigger problems for those of us who aren’t targeted would be information gathering.

One thing most people fail to realize about anything with your name attached (Facebook,forums,driving information, literally anything else) is the information never disappears.

It is bought, sold, analyzed, centralized, and used.

I'm sure that there are limits to what kinds of information can legally be given out, at least currently. There'd have to be a privacy policy, and you'd probably have to keep up with any changes made to it.

But this sort of electronic snooping is real. A few weeks ago I put my "cold season" wheels and tires on the WRX in my sig. New wheels and tires and no TPMS sensors. Couple days later I got an email from Subaru notifying me that something was amiss with my car's TPMS and that I should bring it in and have the "problem" looked at.

There appears to be a second antenna line with a connector that could perhaps be disconnected . . .


Norm

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