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Hacking cars computer systems

Rick

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http://money.cnn.com/2014/06/01/technology/security/car-hack/index.html

Interviews with automakers, suppliers and security advisers reveal a major problem with the new wave of "connected" cars: The inside of your car has ancient technology that presents a security risk.

The 50 to 100 tiny computers that control your steering, acceleration and brakes are really dumb. They rarely conduct authentication, checking whether that message is really coming from you. An outsider can send them commands.

The computer code in cars is outdated. It's similar to the on/off switches used in industrial controls. It's easily manipulated.
Much like the human central nervous system, every electronic part inside a car is connected to a central spine. Tap one part, you can likely reach any other.

"The protocol and internal parts of the car were never meant to be connected to anything," said Joe Klein, a researcher at security firm Disrupt6.
Cars' computers were built safely enough back in the 1990s, when the car was a closed box. But their architecture won't hold up as we hook them up to the Internet.

Consider the level of complexity of modern day cars -- and the chance for a screw up. The space ship that put humans on the moon, Apollo 11, had 145,000 lines of computer code. The Android operating system has 12 million. A modern car? Easily 100 million lines of code.

"Auto manufacturers are not up to speed," said Ed Adams, a researcher at Security Innovation, a company that tests the safety of automobiles. "They're just behind the times. Car software is not built to the same standards as, say, a bank application. Or software coming out of Microsoft."

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A modern car? Easily 100 million lines of code.

That is absurd. I'll need proof. Where is this stored?
 






That is absurd. I'll need proof. Where is this stored?

In each and every microproccesor in the vehicle.

ABS, AirBags, Infotainment, Navigation, Collision Avoidance, etc...
 






I agree, 100 million is absurd.

500,000 - 1,000,000 is more like it.

Aside from the "main" computer, the systems are fairly simple (except for infotainment and nav) so they can and should be written small.

Remember, fewer lines of code is easier to test/verify than many lines...
 






For their part, car manufacturers are working on these problems too.

Ford (F) hardware has built-in firewalls to prevent malicious tampering, and the company has a team of noble hackers constantly probing for weaknesses.

Toyota (TM) does all that too, plus it embeds security chips in the tiny computers throughout the car, narrowing how they communicate and lessening the chance of outsider interference. The company even has forward-thinking plans this year to visit the world's largest hacker conference, Black Hat.

It should be no surprise that Tesla (TSLA) is ahead of the pack. The Model S is the most advanced and connected car currently available. It's worth noting the company's mature approach to addressing vulnerabilities. Instead of hunting down hackers who spot weaknesses, they reward them with an "Information Security" badge that works like a Willy Wonka golden ticket, granting exclusive access to Tesla's factory in Fremont, Calif.

Another plus for older vehicles.

Although, to be sure, the ease of diagnostics and intentional hacking by the owner for tuning and tweaking on a connected-to-everything vehicle does have its own appeal.
 






Another good reason to keep the old stuff. Kind of hard to hack a carb and D-spark setup.
Stupid hackers.
 






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