Last year, the researchers bought a Jeep with a stereo head unit connected to the Internet through a hardware chip that provides a wireless and a cellular network connection. The Browns own a 2014 Jeep Cherokee.
Within the Chrysler company alone, the duo discovered almost two dozen vulnerable models from 2013 to 2015, including the Jeep Cherokee and other popular models like the Dodge Viper, Ram trucks and the Chrysler 300. While it is fortunate all cars are not subject to these vulnerabilities, it is clear that vehicle manufactures must finally address the potential dangers of auto hacking.
Hackers Chris Valasek of IOActive and Charlie Miller, a former NSA staffer, accessed Greenberg’s Jeep’s computer brain through its Uconnect infotainment system.
Miller and Valasek have been hacking away at various cars over the last two years, trying to find a way to control them remotely.
Miller and Valasek had earlier forewarned Fiat Chrysler that they planned to make their findings public. Then they were able to change the radio station and adjust the air-conditioning. “This does not exist, to our assessment, in any other vehicle”. But he says other companies he preferred not to name have moved more slowly. For instance, after a crash, cars are programmed to unlock their doors.
Having recently offered a seminar with a step-by-step look at their hacking attempt at the 2015 Blackhat computer security conference, Miller and Valasek may be ethical in their intentions and many drivers may thank them for their efforts – however, the saga has caused ripples across the auto industry and for Fiat Chrysler in particular, it is back to the drawing board for any future smart vehicles they roll out. At a recent Senate Commerce Committee hearing on The Internet of Things, senators Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) and Edward J. Markey (D-Mass.) announced legislation that would direct the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration and the Federal Trade Commission to establish federal standards to secure our cars and protect drivers’ privacy.
A Fiat-Chrysler Automobiles spokesman said, “The security of US customers is a top priority, as is retaining their confidence in the company’s products”. Now, carmakers who failed to take heed of polite warnings in 2011 have been exposed for their vehicles’ security flaws. As wiring looms for all of a car’s features – ABS, hi-fi, lighting, engine, transmission and so on – became massively complicated, a bright spark at Bosch had the idea of sharing a common set of wiring, called a CAN bus, along which power and data info could be passed. Once he exited the expressway and tried to park the auto in a parking lot, his brakes were hacked as he parked directly in front of a ditch, and was forced into it.
