Photo: telematics news
Just yesterday we showed you what can happen inside your car if malicious hackers want to take over. In short, they can do it and they can actually put your life in danger.
Yesterday’s example was focused only on FCA’s Uconnect infotainment system that, apparently, has such massive flaws and vulnerabilities, that they can be exploited from a distance. It’s all done via your internet connection.
Today we learned about a new bill proposed by two Democrat senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut that aims at forcing every car maker out there to make sure that there’s a minimal level of cyber security in place in their cars. This way, they are hoping to prevent risky situations in which hackers can take over various functions of the car.
Of course, the bill refers only to vehicle software in contact with physical driving controls. That means they want to have the drivers protected against intrusion from outside, related to steering, acceleration, braking and so on, things that would actually endanger you.
According to their proposal, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be the one to establish what kind of minimum requirements would need to be put in place. On top of that, depending on the level of security employed by each company, stickers would then be applied to the windows of the cars, mentioning just how safe they are. Think of these as the alternative to EPA labels if you will.
On top of all this, keeping hackers away is just half the problem. The senators also want the companies to let you know in ‘clear and plain’ language just how much data is gathered about you and your driving habits.
This is meant to be a solution to the fact that some manufacturers warned that marketers are interested in data above, wanting to do direct advertising inside of cars, using it. If the bill passes, you will get to choose how much data you want to share and how much privacy you’d prefer. At the same time, features using such information should be left intact, as the navigation devices for example.
Today we learned about a new bill proposed by two Democrat senators from Massachusetts and Connecticut that aims at forcing every car maker out there to make sure that there’s a minimal level of cyber security in place in their cars. This way, they are hoping to prevent risky situations in which hackers can take over various functions of the car.
Of course, the bill refers only to vehicle software in contact with physical driving controls. That means they want to have the drivers protected against intrusion from outside, related to steering, acceleration, braking and so on, things that would actually endanger you.
According to their proposal, the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration would be the one to establish what kind of minimum requirements would need to be put in place. On top of that, depending on the level of security employed by each company, stickers would then be applied to the windows of the cars, mentioning just how safe they are. Think of these as the alternative to EPA labels if you will.
On top of all this, keeping hackers away is just half the problem. The senators also want the companies to let you know in ‘clear and plain’ language just how much data is gathered about you and your driving habits.
This is meant to be a solution to the fact that some manufacturers warned that marketers are interested in data above, wanting to do direct advertising inside of cars, using it. If the bill passes, you will get to choose how much data you want to share and how much privacy you’d prefer. At the same time, features using such information should be left intact, as the navigation devices for example.
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