Recently, an hacker created a new device that can unlock any luxury car. Read on to know more…
As motor vehicles are fitted with more digital controls and Internet-connected devices, they are becoming more vulnerable to cybercriminals, who can hack into those systems just like they can hack the computers. For instance, almost any digitally connected device in a car could become an entry point to the vehicle’s central communications network, opening a door for hackers to potentially take control by.
There have been only a handful of successful hacks on vehicles so far, carried out mostly to demonstrate potential weaknesses — such as opening the doors of a car and taking its control. According to a IANS news report, an hacker created a new device that can unlock any luxury car. The hacker named San Francisco: The hacker known as “EvanConnect” used the device “keyless repeater” which he sells for $9,000 and demonstrated that how it works in a video which he released recently.
Shocking Disclosure
In the video, EvanConnect is seen approaching an unattended car which belongs to his friend who gave him permission to use it and using the small handheld device with an antenna to unlock the driver’s side door of the car and start the engine, dailymail.co.uk reported. In the video, he admits there is no guarantee as to how his customers might use the device.
He said in an interview that his device works on all luxury cars except for those that use frequencies between 22 and 40 khz, such as Mercedes, Audi, Porsche, Bentley and Rolls Royce models released after 2014. In addition, he also mentioned about the upgraded version of the same for $12,000 which can unlock any car that uses a wireless fob system.
The new vulnerability comes as auto makers are increasingly using software to control features and functions that have long been dominated by hardware, such as braking, gear shifting and throttle control. It represents a seminal break from the mechanical hydraulic systems of the recent past, one that began with the introduction of electronically controlled fuel injection in the late 1960s.
Valuable Lessons
There are lessons here for other established Industries stepping into the IoT. To ensure the safety of smart products, safeguard corporate reputations and retain customers, it’s essential to identify and respond to security vulnerabilities before cybercriminals can find and exploit them. To that end, manufacturers need to issue security patches and updates proactively — both for products in the wild and within their own IT sector. Of course, this kind of forward-looking security demands the ability to identify vulnerabilities in advance.
The Road Ahead
Newer cars have modems enabling Internet connectivity; today, these are used mostly used for entertainment, but they are fast evolving into portals for software upgrades of critical systems and for sending data to cloud-computing networks.
The threat of regular people having their vehicles digitally carjacked by cyberattackers is real. In reality, car hacking could be the new carjacking. But security experts paint a grim picture of what might lie ahead. They see a growing threat from malicious hackers who access cars remotely and keep their doors locked until a ransom is paid.
To conclude — while the vulnerabilities in connected cars highlight the growing importance of security in the IoT age, we should beware overhyping the implications of these hacks. After all, these compromises were achieved by security researchers.
