Your smart car may be more connected than you realize, and that's not always a good thing.
Cybersecurity experts are warning that smart cars—those fancy rides with Wi-Fi, Bluetooth, and “over-the-air” updates—are at serious risk of being compromised.
If every car in the street will soon be connected, automakers must step up their game, or we'll all end up in Hacksville.
According to Liz James, a consultant at NCC Group, a cybersecurity firm, the rise of always-connected vehicles opens the door to a slew of new threats that did not exist previously.
“These cars are basically computers on wheels,” James says, and as with any computer, hackers are eager to take them over.
Hackers Have Already Proven Their Skills
In case you thought this was a hypothetical threat, it has already occurred. Earlier this year, a group of hackers broke into a Tesla as part of an Automotive World hacking competition.
They were able to send commands to the car, highlighting how vulnerable these vehicles are.
This is not the first time. In 2022, a German teenager remotely controlled a Tesla, making international headlines for all the wrong reasons.
Almost all communication between your smartphone and your car takes place over the internet, through the cloud.
This is how you can start your car remotely, turn on the air conditioning, and receive over-the-air (OTA) software updates from the manufacturer.
But the problem is that if you can control your car in this manner, so can someone else—assuming they know what they're doing.
Automakers Should Do More
James and other experts are urging automakers to implement “opt-in” security models.
This would give drivers control over when and how their cars update software, as well as whether or not they want the vehicle to share data such as location.
It's one method for giving consumers more control over their safety.
However, the issue goes deeper. Toyota, Volkswagen, and other automakers are racing to create their own operating systems for their vehicles, similar to Apple's CarPlay and Android Auto.
However, carmakers' software isn't exactly known for its reliability.
In fact, tech companies like Apple have a better track record when it comes to defending against cyberattacks, prompting the question: why aren't automakers doing more?
Smart Cars; Smart Attacks
Japan is already working to address the issue. According to reports, Toyota, Hitachi, and approximately 100 other companies are working together to standardize rules for managing vehicle software.
What's the goal? Make cars more difficult to hack. However, as Ryuji Yamazaki, a supervisor at a Mercedes-Benz dealership in Tokyo, points out, customers are still unaware of how vulnerable their connected vehicles are.
Some buyers are even concerned that if they turn on the air conditioner remotely, they will accidentally start the engine, making it easier for thieves to steal their vehicle.
Yamazaki assures them that the engine will stop once the door is opened, but this confusion demonstrates how little most people understand about the technology in their own vehicles.
So, the next time you want to show off your fancy smart car's remote features, keep in mind that hackers love connected cars even more than you do.