OT: something else to worry about

[ctfjr]

http://www.wired.com/2015/07/hackers-remotely-kill-jeep-highway/

So anyone with a recent Chrysler product vehicle that has UConnect (like my Jeep) can have their vehicle hacked and controlled by some unknown entity. Apparently other manufacturers are also VERY vulnerable.

Its frightening to think of what some well funded terrorists could do. . .

 

[vtcwbuff]

Mostly BS and only if you are paying for Jeep's seriously overpriced WIFI.

 

[ctfjr]

I think that's a lot of wishful thinking buff. . . Its a real issue, unless you don't believe in the future. btw UConnect is NOT Jeep's overpriced wifi (that's extra, lol). UConnect gives you some useful apps including the equivalent of GM's 'Onstar'. We have it in our (vulnerable) 2014 Jeep.

fwiw, here is a partial quote from a Microsoft engineer,
". . .
Now extrapolate this to self driving cars and the ability for the hack to 'hop' from one car to another...imagine a group of ten or fifty or a thousand streaming onto a military base.or a child care center...loaded with explosives. Untraceable.
The threat is real, and if two guys can do it in their living room, imagine what a malevolent country could do. Isis has stockpiled 100's of millions of dollars. Now you don't need to convince people to blow themselves up..."

Of course, maybe its just a conspiracy.

 

[vtcwbuff]

I have a 2015 GC and I have already installed the patch. You can download it on a thumb drive and install it yourself. My point was that the hack itself was BS. If you believe the Wired article these guys tested the hack on a public highway - not too smart IMO.

From the article -
"Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape. The experiment had ceased to be fun.

At that point, the interstate began to slope upward, so the Jeep lost more momentum and barely crept forward. Cars lined up behind my bumper before passing me, honking. I could see an 18-wheeler approaching in my rearview mirror. I hoped its driver saw me, too, and could tell I was paralyzed on the highway."

In any case I am not concerned because I don't subscribe to the UConnect WIFI service @ $30 a month.

 

[TDiNozzo]

It's more of the idea what can be done to cars...Onstar can disable a stolen vehicle, what if their system gets hacked, and EVERY vehicle with Onstar gets turned off.....or every car with Onstar gets unlocked and started, maybe in your garage, while your sleeping. If the government is getting hacked, what other systems can get manipulated?