It's not carjacking. Nobody with a gun jumping into the driver's seat and speeding off with your ride.
It's car-hacking. A cyber criminal hacking into a car's computer systems to wreak havoc.
Senate Commerce Committee chairman Jay Rockefeller, a West Virginia
Democrat, said while he's excited about safety improvements through
technology, he's concerned about new risks including cyber security.
"As our cars become more connected – to the internet, to
wireless networks, with each other, and with our infrastructure – are
they at risk of catastrophic cyber attacks?" Senator Rockefeller asked
in his opening statement prepared for the hearing.
Cars are increasingly controlled electronically rather than
mechanically, from acceleration and starting to rolling down the
windows. Infotainment systems connect drivers to satellite and wireless
networks.
Today's typical luxury car has more than 100 million lines of
computer code, while software and electronics account for 40 per cent
of the car's cost and half of warranty claims, said John D. Lee, a
professor at the University of Wisconsin-Madison's industrial and
systems engineering department.
Not exactly sure why someone would do this although imagine if terrorists could send vehicles careening out of control on busy highways? In our automobile-dependent society what would happen if confidence in our essential conveyance was shattered?
