How your car can be hacked

CARS these days are hi-tech machines but with all their on-board gadgets they could become a dangerous opportunity for hackers.

This tiny device could be a hacker’s key to your car.

CARS stacked with gadgets and electronics might sound great but all this equipment could be the very thing allowing hackers to take over your vehicle.

In a report by CNN, security researchers were able to show how they disabled brakes and took control of the steering wheel in different models of car as a result of infiltrating its on-board electronics.

The likes of Bluetooth, AM/FM radio, in-car wi-fi, and keyless entry system could all be used as access points, which are connected on the same network as a car’s vital functions such as steering. The researchers explained how cars are full of computers that talk to each other and all a hacker has to do is work out how they communicate and trick the car by impersonating other trusted parts of the vehicle.

They demonstrated how they were able to disable the brakes at the press of a button as some models will shut off if a mechanic works on them. It worked at slower speeds but the vehicle was unable to stop and was sent careering off the road.

More disconcerting showed a Toyota Prius — a vehicle famous for its innovation and ability to steer itself into a parking space — with the hackers able to turn the steering wheel as it travelled along at speed.

Okay, this sounds pretty scary but these were performed with the hacker inside the car who had access to instrument panels (they basically pulled the car apart) so we’re left a bit more relieved at the threat of being driven off against our will. But it does highlight the security flaws of a vehicle’s electronic systems being linked together — especially those crucial systems such as engine, braking and steering controls.

So is there any possibility our cars could be hijacked from afar? The short and (somewhat) scary answer to this is yes.

As well as newer cars being essentially connected to a potentially vulnerable wider network through their on-board wi-fi or GPS, cars also have what is called a CAN bus, which connects all the electronics in a network. Should this be hacked it could be possible for someone to completely control your vehicle just using a laptop.

But it would still require the hacker to get physically hands-on with the vehicle. A piece of hardware the size of an iPhone called CHT, developed by a security expert that takes just $25 worth of materials and can be plugged into the CAN bus. It’s possible it could manipulate the lights, handbrake, steering, pretty much everything you don’t want someone else to control from a remote location.

It’s a hacker’s nature to find new weak spots for entry so a remote hack could very well be plausible.

The report explains how a driver could accidentally download a virus onto their mobile phone and then connect it to their car via Bluetooth. If that car’s Bluetooth is operating on the same system as the brakes then there could be trouble.

While you might look at all those blinking lights and systems a bit cockeyed next time you get into your car you can reassure yourself that it is still not easy to hack a car. Each car is still very sophisticated, with each speaking a different programming language that no one has access to. It would take time and expensive equipment to pull off a hack.

It might not sound like it after reading this but all that innovation has played an important role in actually making cars a lot safer. What we want is this innovation to come with airtight security and no risk our vehicle could become one big toy for hackers.