Transport minister, Lord Callanan, has announced that smart cars must be protected from hacking threats.

Lord Callanan insisted that protecting vehicles against cyber attacks was “important”, despite it being “unlikely”.

Under new government guidance, car manufacturers have to protect internet-connected vehicles from cyberattacks.

Helping eliminate hacking and to toughen up cyber protection, engineers developing smart vehicles will be guided by the government.

It is feared that hackers could target smart vehicles, through accessing personal data such as digital radio services, travel information and maps, and by stealing cars with keyless entry.

‘Treat your car like your computer’

Lord Callanan said to the Belfast Telegraph: “There are huge safety advantages for the public in using this technology, that’s one of the key drivers of it.

“But there are some things we need to beware of and cyber security is a particularly important part of it.

“We need to make sure that the designs of the vehicles in the first place are completely cyber secure so that people can’t break into them, they can’t steal them and more importantly they can’t hack them to potentially cause accidents.”

Lord Callanan also noted that members of the public could take steps to protect their vehicles from hackers by “treating your car like your computer”, “being careful who you give access to” and “by not plugging in devices such as USB sticks that you don’t know the origin of.”

Written by Leah Alger