Hackers now steering
into cars, homes
Imagine
driving on the freeway at 60 miles per hour and your car suddenly screeches to
a halt, causing a pileup. Now imagine you had absolutely nothing to do with the
accident because your car was taken over by hackers.
Charlie Miller, a security researcher at Twitter, and Chris Valasek, director of security intelligence at IOActive, a security research company, recently demonstrated car hacks at the DefCon computer security conferences in Las Vegas. The researchers completely disabled a driver’s ability to control a vehicle with a click of a button.
Hackers and security researchers are moving away from simply trying to break into — or protect — people’s email accounts, stealing credit cards and other dirty digital deeds. Now they’re exploring vulnerabilities to break through the high-tech security of homes, cause car accidents or in some extreme cases, kill people who use implanted medical devices.
“Once any single computer in a car is compromised, safety of the vehicle goes out the window,” Miller said in an e-mail interview. “Right now, there aren’t a lot of ways for hackers to remotely attack cars. “But as cars get internet connections, things will get easier for the attacker.”
Besides your car, your home is another target for the hackers. Devices like a Wi-Fi enabled front-door lock that can be used with a smartphone, could open a way for technically-skilled thieves to break into your home.
Hackers could also turn our televisions and webcams against us, monitoring everything we’re saying and doing.
But some of the most advanced security researchers are thinking about even scarier hacks, of implanted medical devices. Barnaby Jack was supposed to demonstrate at Black Hat how implantable medical devices, including a pacemaker, can be hacked to kill someone. But Jack, who was in his 30s, died shortly before he was to make his presentation, of causes that are yet to be determined.
So, should we dig holes in our yards, bury our computers and smartphones and never drive our cars again?
“Sometimes there is a gap between the researcher community and the real world,” said Chris Rohlf, founder of Leaf Security Research, a security consulting company, in an interview. “We haven’t figured out how to stop attacks against web browsers in personal computers despite trying for the last 10 years, so there isn’t any reason to think that we can stop attacks against cars or other devices in the near future,” Miller said. “We should be concerned and start taking action now.” NYT NEWS SERVICE
HACKING TIME AHEAD
As we move into an automated world, we are becoming more and more vulnerable to hacking. Hackers can now take control of our cars and home. They can cause car accidents or in some extreme cases, even kill people who use implanted medical devices
CRUISE CONTROL
Researchers recently demonstrated that a hacker can completely disable a driver’s ability to control a vehicle. No brakes and distorted steering, all with a click of a button
They warn that dozens of modern vehicles could be susceptible If a single computer in a car is compromised, safety of the vehicle goes out of the window and cars have 10 to 40 little computers in them
As cars get internet connections, things will get easier for the attacker
America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, is researching ways to thwart such attacks
HOME SCARE
Charlie Miller, a security researcher at Twitter, and Chris Valasek, director of security intelligence at IOActive, a security research company, recently demonstrated car hacks at the DefCon computer security conferences in Las Vegas. The researchers completely disabled a driver’s ability to control a vehicle with a click of a button.
Hackers and security researchers are moving away from simply trying to break into — or protect — people’s email accounts, stealing credit cards and other dirty digital deeds. Now they’re exploring vulnerabilities to break through the high-tech security of homes, cause car accidents or in some extreme cases, kill people who use implanted medical devices.
“Once any single computer in a car is compromised, safety of the vehicle goes out the window,” Miller said in an e-mail interview. “Right now, there aren’t a lot of ways for hackers to remotely attack cars. “But as cars get internet connections, things will get easier for the attacker.”
Besides your car, your home is another target for the hackers. Devices like a Wi-Fi enabled front-door lock that can be used with a smartphone, could open a way for technically-skilled thieves to break into your home.
Hackers could also turn our televisions and webcams against us, monitoring everything we’re saying and doing.
But some of the most advanced security researchers are thinking about even scarier hacks, of implanted medical devices. Barnaby Jack was supposed to demonstrate at Black Hat how implantable medical devices, including a pacemaker, can be hacked to kill someone. But Jack, who was in his 30s, died shortly before he was to make his presentation, of causes that are yet to be determined.
So, should we dig holes in our yards, bury our computers and smartphones and never drive our cars again?
“Sometimes there is a gap between the researcher community and the real world,” said Chris Rohlf, founder of Leaf Security Research, a security consulting company, in an interview. “We haven’t figured out how to stop attacks against web browsers in personal computers despite trying for the last 10 years, so there isn’t any reason to think that we can stop attacks against cars or other devices in the near future,” Miller said. “We should be concerned and start taking action now.” NYT NEWS SERVICE
HACKING TIME AHEAD
As we move into an automated world, we are becoming more and more vulnerable to hacking. Hackers can now take control of our cars and home. They can cause car accidents or in some extreme cases, even kill people who use implanted medical devices
CRUISE CONTROL
Researchers recently demonstrated that a hacker can completely disable a driver’s ability to control a vehicle. No brakes and distorted steering, all with a click of a button
They warn that dozens of modern vehicles could be susceptible If a single computer in a car is compromised, safety of the vehicle goes out of the window and cars have 10 to 40 little computers in them
As cars get internet connections, things will get easier for the attacker
America’s Defence Advanced Research Projects Agency, or Darpa, is researching ways to thwart such attacks
HOME SCARE
Security researchers warn our homes are more vulnerable than
our cars to attackers Devices like the Lockitron, a Wi-Fi enabled front-door
lock that can be used with a smartphone, can open a ways for technically
skilled thieves to break into your home Hackers can turn our televisions and
webcams against us, monitoring everything we’re saying and doing
Next-generation light bulbs that are connected to the web can be tampered with
Digital refrigerators can be turned off, allowing food to spoil without our knowledge
NOT SO SMART
An Android smartphone can be taken over by injecting code through the game Angry Birds
An iPhone can be hacked by a power adapter
LIFE AT RISK
Implantable medical device like a
pacemaker, can be hacked to kill someone
Next-generation light bulbs that are connected to the web can be tampered with
Digital refrigerators can be turned off, allowing food to spoil without our knowledge
NOT SO SMART
An Android smartphone can be taken over by injecting code through the game Angry Birds
An iPhone can be hacked by a power adapter
LIFE AT RISK
Implantable medical device like a
pacemaker, can be hacked to kill someone
FUNNY SIDE
Bluetooth-enabled
toilets, which can be controlled via a smartphone app, can easily be hacked to
spray water up instead of down. So in the future, we will need to download
security updates for our toilets
Nick
Bilton TOI130813
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