Charlie Miller and Chris Valazek, well-known security researchers, demonstrated for Forbes Magazine and the Today Show the ability to hack the on-board computers of cars. Thanks to the recent self-park features, this means not only can they change the displays like the odometer, speedometer, and gas tank but they can also control the steering wheel.
You can watch the video at www.today.com/video/today/52609500
If you follow Charlie Miller on Twitter, you will know that they bricked a Prius in their testing and are stuck with a $5,000 bill to repair it. The Forbes demo and the Today Show perfectly showed off the abilities though.
The car manufacturers have a horrible response to this news. While the security breach currently requires a physical connection, it’s just a matter of time before the attack evolves to overcome this. The TPMS was already shown to be hackable wirelessly. Car manufacturers have the opportunity to start with security first and build on top of that. Instead, they are acting like years of computer security risks have never existed.