Photo: insideinternetsecurity.wordpress.com
Ah, hackers. They may not all be like what Sam Esmail envisioned in the surprisingly successful drama-thriller television series Mr.Robot, but they clearly can be malicious and, therefore, dangerous to our well-being. Sure, some of the well-meaning code-crackers help us create a better defense in front of possible cyber-attacks.
With a lot of new car models turning into evolved computers on wheels, the car hackers are turning into the black sheep of the family, the automotive family, that is. So the Government is working on a bill that comes to help carmakers. Well, at least that’s what politicians claim, considering they want to make comp-heads pay up to $100,000 if they step in the wrong direction.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to access, without authorization, an electronic control unit or critical system of a motor vehicle, or other system containing driving data for such cars, either wirelessly or through a wired connection,” details the draft bill proposed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
And if someone is caught messing around with the vehicle’s interface, they could receive a civil penalty of up to $100,000. Moreover, a separate violation occurs for each motor vehicle or item of a car. Now, besides the obvious cyber-safety outcome, what does this law mean if it sees the light of day?
Well, first of all, Elon Musk will no longer be able to look for hackers online and ask if they want a job at his company. What’s worse, even if you own the car, you’ll not be able to handle things without the government’s permission to do so anymore. Moreover, we’ll probably be deprived of all those fun videos with hackers playing around with a vehicle’s infotainment system just to prove a point.
Think of that experiment from July, when two hackers were asked to get inside a Jeep Cherokee’s infotainment system and take over various functions. Not only did they do it but the whole thing happened wirelessly.
“It shall be unlawful for any person to access, without authorization, an electronic control unit or critical system of a motor vehicle, or other system containing driving data for such cars, either wirelessly or through a wired connection,” details the draft bill proposed by the House Energy and Commerce Committee on Wednesday.
And if someone is caught messing around with the vehicle’s interface, they could receive a civil penalty of up to $100,000. Moreover, a separate violation occurs for each motor vehicle or item of a car. Now, besides the obvious cyber-safety outcome, what does this law mean if it sees the light of day?
Well, first of all, Elon Musk will no longer be able to look for hackers online and ask if they want a job at his company. What’s worse, even if you own the car, you’ll not be able to handle things without the government’s permission to do so anymore. Moreover, we’ll probably be deprived of all those fun videos with hackers playing around with a vehicle’s infotainment system just to prove a point.
Think of that experiment from July, when two hackers were asked to get inside a Jeep Cherokee’s infotainment system and take over various functions. Not only did they do it but the whole thing happened wirelessly.
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