You’d think that if you spend BMW type money on a car, you shouldn’t have to worry about having your car “pwned” by some hacker. Well, you might be one of 2.2 million car owners who could have their car “pwned” by hackers:
BMW said officials at German motorist association ADAC had identified the problem, which affected cars equipped with the company’s ConnectedDrive software using on-board SIM cards — the chips used to identify authorised users of mobile devices.
BMW drivers can use the software and SIM cards to activate door locking mechanisms, as well as a range of other services including real-time traffic information, online entertainment and air conditioning.
The security risk occurred when data was transmitted, BMW said, adding it did not impede the car’s critical functions of driving, steering or braking.
BMW said it was not aware of any examples where the data had been used to compromise the security of a vehicle.
The good news is that the fix is rolling out to cars now automatically and involves encrypting the connection in the same manner that your online banking is encrypted.
What’s becoming clear is that if as cars become rolling computers, car companies will have spend way more time and effort ensuring their cars are secure. Because the car thief of the future isn’t going to use a “Slim Jim” to break into your car. They’ll be using a laptop. And that assumes that their intent is to steal your car, which it may not be. That’s scary.
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This entry was posted on February 2, 2015 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BMW, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.
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BMW Patches Flaw That Allows Hackers To Pwn Cars
You’d think that if you spend BMW type money on a car, you shouldn’t have to worry about having your car “pwned” by some hacker. Well, you might be one of 2.2 million car owners who could have their car “pwned” by hackers:
BMW said officials at German motorist association ADAC had identified the problem, which affected cars equipped with the company’s ConnectedDrive software using on-board SIM cards — the chips used to identify authorised users of mobile devices.
BMW drivers can use the software and SIM cards to activate door locking mechanisms, as well as a range of other services including real-time traffic information, online entertainment and air conditioning.
The security risk occurred when data was transmitted, BMW said, adding it did not impede the car’s critical functions of driving, steering or braking.
BMW said it was not aware of any examples where the data had been used to compromise the security of a vehicle.
The good news is that the fix is rolling out to cars now automatically and involves encrypting the connection in the same manner that your online banking is encrypted.
What’s becoming clear is that if as cars become rolling computers, car companies will have spend way more time and effort ensuring their cars are secure. Because the car thief of the future isn’t going to use a “Slim Jim” to break into your car. They’ll be using a laptop. And that assumes that their intent is to steal your car, which it may not be. That’s scary.
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This entry was posted on February 2, 2015 at 7:56 pm and is filed under Commentary with tags BMW, Security. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.