Never Mind Carjacking, What About Car Hacking?
As a trusted IT support company Hampshire, PurpleJelly know the vital importance of security, and just how detrimental hacking can be for employees and customers alike. However, what happens when criminals go one step further and don’t just hack our computers, but the very cars that we’re driving? Industry leaders are aware of the risks, and are attempting to plan ahead in order to identify and prevent potential threats to both drivers and passengers of the future.
Volkswagen have announced that they will be founding new cybersecurity firm (named CyMotive Technologies) amidst concerns surrounding vulnerabilities in more connected vehicles that could lead to hacking and the potential loss of control for drivers.
Increased integration between vehicles and the internet is certainly something to be celebrated, and whilst innovation and increased connectivity are paving the way for new solutions to old problems, they also carry new risks all of their own, as FCA have previously found to their expense. Last year, over a million vehicles had to be recalled by Chrysler (FCA) last year after hacking vulnerabilities were found, which allowed hackers to remotely control the cars and tamper with brakes, steering, the engine and various electronics.
It’s estimated that 150 million internet connected vehicles will exist by 2020 and 21 million self-driving vehicles will be on the roads by 2035; this exponential rise in smart connected cars and self-driving vehicles means that developing cars that are unhackable are now more important than ever.
Due to the longer lifespan of cars compared to other technologies that suffer from security threats like computers and phones, different solutions are having to be looked into; one such solution is for wifi providers to block all incoming internet traffic to cars, in order to prevent any potentially malicious activity. Another option that tech experts think has merit is the possibility of remote security updates, similar to what we see on computer software, in order to keep things up to date and prevent vehicles from being vulnerable to newer forms of attack.