Hackers demonstrate they can remotely take over moving vehicle
Does this make you feel safer? In a demonstration of the vulnerability of modern cars that are linked to the internet, two hackers took over the operation of an unmodified moving Jeep Cherokee.
A pair of Missouri-based hackers have put on an extraordinary demonstration by logging into a Jeep Cherokee remotely, while it was being driven by a Wired reporter Andy Greenberg, and systematically taking over the car’s functionality. First, they hit him with cold air through the air-con system, then they blasted Kanye West through the stereo at full volume, rendering the volume knob completely useless. They flashed up a picture of themselves on the car’s console and set the windscreen wipers going full blast, squirting cleaning fluid onto the windscreen and making it difficult to see.
But these were just warmups to the main event – next, they took over the engine and shut it off completely, leaving the driver powerless and coasting on the freeway as traffic flashed past around him. Then, once he was off the highway, they showed how they could completely disable the brakes, and take over the steering of the car – only at slow speeds and in reverse, but they’re working on unlocking new abilities every day.
This suggests to me that linking any car directly to the internet is probably a very bad idea.
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Does this make you feel safer? In a demonstration of the vulnerability of modern cars that are linked to the internet, two hackers took over the operation of an unmodified moving Jeep Cherokee.
A pair of Missouri-based hackers have put on an extraordinary demonstration by logging into a Jeep Cherokee remotely, while it was being driven by a Wired reporter Andy Greenberg, and systematically taking over the car’s functionality. First, they hit him with cold air through the air-con system, then they blasted Kanye West through the stereo at full volume, rendering the volume knob completely useless. They flashed up a picture of themselves on the car’s console and set the windscreen wipers going full blast, squirting cleaning fluid onto the windscreen and making it difficult to see.
But these were just warmups to the main event – next, they took over the engine and shut it off completely, leaving the driver powerless and coasting on the freeway as traffic flashed past around him. Then, once he was off the highway, they showed how they could completely disable the brakes, and take over the steering of the car – only at slow speeds and in reverse, but they’re working on unlocking new abilities every day.
This suggests to me that linking any car directly to the internet is probably a very bad idea.
Readers!
Please consider supporting my work here at Behind the Black. Your support allows me the freedom and ability to analyze objectively the ongoing renaissance in space, as well as the cultural changes -- for good or ill -- that are happening across America. Fourteen years ago I wrote that SLS and Orion were a bad ideas, a waste of money, would be years behind schedule, and better replaced by commercial private enterprise. Only now does it appear that Washington might finally recognize this reality.
In 2020 when the world panicked over COVID I wrote that the panic was unnecessary, that the virus was apparently simply a variation of the flu, that masks were not simply pointless but if worn incorrectly were a health threat, that the lockdowns were a disaster and did nothing to stop the spread of COVID. Only in the past year have some of our so-called experts in the health field have begun to recognize these facts.
Your help allows me to do this kind of intelligent analysis. I take no advertising or sponsors, so my reporting isn't influenced by donations by established space or drug companies. Instead, I rely entirely on donations and subscriptions from my readers, which gives me the freedom to write what I think, unencumbered by outside influences.
You can support me either by giving a one-time contribution or a regular subscription. There are four ways of doing so:
1. Zelle: This is the only internet method that charges no fees. All you have to do is use the Zelle link at your internet bank and give my name and email address (zimmerman at nasw dot org). What you donate is what I get.
2. Patreon: Go to my website there and pick one of five monthly subscription amounts, or by making a one-time donation.
3. A Paypal Donation or subscription:
4. Donate by check, payable to Robert Zimmerman and mailed to
Behind The Black
c/o Robert Zimmerman
P.O.Box 1262
Cortaro, AZ 85652
You can also support me by buying one of my books, as noted in the boxes interspersed throughout the webpage or shown in the menu above.
I’ve got two vehicles, a 1973 Chevy C-10 pickup (no computers, it should survive an EMP attack) and a 1991 Escort GT (computers, but no airbags or any other explosive devices in the passenger compartment, and no Internet connectivity).
As a space enthusiast I balk at putting explosives on human-carrying vehicles, but that’s just me, and as a former truck driver I insist on remaining in full control of my machine.
“This suggests to me that linking any car directly to the internet is probably a very bad idea.”
But a good one for Progressives. Now you’re dependent on government.
Been looking to buy a pre-1975 vehicle, even a beater, for EMP protection, and they’re easy to work on and modify. We used to worry about massive nuclear death; now our tech is our Achilles’s heel.
Well there goes any hope I’d have of buying a Tesla, that and they don’t make a truck which is what I really need. I’m sure though since this is now a problem and Elon isn’t a dope, that the cars would be upgraded with an autistic mode which cuts off the radio transceiver.
Heh, ” they’re easy to work on…”
’73 Chevy V8: Alternator R&R took me about 2 hours, at night, in my driveway, while making dinner.
Water pump, 2 days of easy working (a weekend).
’91 GT DOHC: Alternator R&R took me 4 days in the garage, working hard most of the time.
Water pump, 4 weeks in the garage, not counting the collection of the pieces!
“NS5 Robot: [Jumps on car and tries to steer car out of control] You are experiencing a car accident.
Detective Del Spooner: The hell I am.” – I, Robot
People always comment on the condition of my ’57 Chevy. Ask me if I’m ever going to restore it. Truth is, I kind of like it just the way it is. I just tell them its “My Jalopy”. Unlike most classic car owners, I never have anyone ask me if I want to sell it. It was literally a “basket case” when I bought it. Parts in the back seat, parts in the trunk, parts in the garage, parts NEXT to the garage. I’ve driven it across the country several times now, towing a trailer. It is vulnerable to an EMP because I upgraded to HEI ignition after I got tired of constantly having to adjust the Mallory dual-point distributor I installed when I reassembled the car, but I can swap that out in twenty minutes.