Cars: just another electronic device subject to the risk of cyber warfare.
Researchers at UCSD and the University of Washington discovered that certain late-model cars with wireless connectivity can be hacked. The researchers were able to remotely disable the brakes, stop the engine or make other adjustments to cars’ operations. (New York Times, 5/13/10)
Nissan, believing that there will be great value in marketing cars based on the information they can remotely deliver to drivers, is building a “secret” data center from which it will connect to all of its future cars. Is there a potential for such a network to be maliciously attacked? There may be franchise risk not only in the increase of computerized car components but also in their Internet connectivity.
Michael Hines
