https://youtu.be/P9bN0wT6yMo

By B.N. Frank

The world would undoubtedly be a better place if there was never ever another impaired driver on the road. But what about when vehicles are impaired due to hacking?

Older vehicles weren’t able to be hacked, and studies continue to warn about the potential for new vehicles to be hacked and how this could lead to massive traffic gridlocks as well as people dying.

From Consumer Watchdog:

A consumer advocacy group has warned that automakers are rolling out new vehicles increasingly vulnerable to hackers, which could result in thousands of deaths in the event of a mass cyberattack.

In a new report entitled “Kill Switch: Why Connected Cars Can Be Killing Machines And How To Turn Them Off,” Los Angeles-based Consumer Watchdog said cars connected to the internet are quickly becoming the norm but constitute a national security threat.

“The troubling issue for industry technologies is that these vehicles’ safety-critical systems are being linked to the internet without adequate security and with no way to disconnect them in the event of a fleet-wide hack,” the report said.

It said industry executives were aware of the risk but were nonetheless pushing ahead in deploying the technology in new vehicles, putting corporate profit ahead of safety.

The report was based on a five-month study with the help of more than 20 whistleblowers from within the car industry.

The group of car industry technologists and experts speculated that a fleet-wide hack at rush hour could leave about 3,000 people dead.

“You can control all sorts of aspects of your car from your smartphone, including starting the engine, starting the air conditioning, checking on its location,” said one of the whistleblowers, who were not identified.

“Well, if you can do it with your smartphone anybody else can over the internet.”

The report recommends all connected vehicles be equipped with an internet kill switch and that all new designs should completely isolate safety-critical systems from internet-connected infotainment systems or other networks.

“Connecting safety-critical systems to the internet is inherently dangerous design,” said Jamie Court, president of Consumer Watchdog.