Driverless cars targeted by hackers, says report

Automakers predict that driverless cars will become a worthy target by hackers and assassins.

New York Times report stated criminals have actively been developing, trading and deploying tools that can intercept car key communications, and only a laptop and codes are needed to harm people driving driverless cars.

The report noted that automakers may call them self-driving cars, but hackers call them computers that travel over 100 miles an hour.

Hackers, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek (who are now security researchers for Uber) controlled a Jeep Cherokee’s steering, brakes and transmission through an electric router from a computer miles away.

“These are no longer cars, these are data centres on wheels. Any part of the car that talks to the outside world is a potential inroad for attackers,” said Principal Security Researcher, Marc Rogers.

“The only difference between computer code and driverless car code is that, unlike data centre enterprise security, where the biggest threat is loss of data in automotive security, it’s loss of life,” added Co-founder of Karamba Security, David Barzilai.

Security experts say automakers will have to address inevitable vulnerabilities in car sensors and computers to secure autonomous vehicles.

Written from source by Leah Alger
Source: New York Times

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