Hacking A Car Is No More Just An Idea! It Exists
Incorporation of the latest technology in cars has made these machines the biggest computers on earth. The speed of these computers can be a 200 KM/ Hour that is actually awesome. If you want to stop it, you need to be a supercomputer. Do you accept that the latest cars are a big computer? If yes, why could not be hacked? So, it is possible, which is dangerous for car owners. Generally, people do not believe in car hacking. It was quite near to the truth a few years back, but now, we know that it is possible and can be done. The car hackers have achieved a lot in recent years and are now able to control some of the core features. All those features that are directly related to the technology are in access to them. They can take control of some of them by accessing the car software and for that, they have even no need to sit in the car and can access it through their own computer.
We were already warned about car hacking
The news of car hacking have been speculating since 2010, however, the first significant news was about the accidental death of Michael Hastings in Los Angeles. He was the journalist and died in a single-car accident. WikiLeaks assumed it an accident that was organized. The same happened with Paul Walker and her daughter sued the Porsche car makers. She was the opinion that there was a flaw in the technology that became the cause of the accident. The practical demonstration was given to the viewers about car hacking in the movie “The Fate of the Furious” released in 2017.However, the most shocking incident was the hack of Chrysler Jeep. It happened in 2016 when the US car hackers achieved the target of hacking main functions such as wipers, transmission, steering, and brakes of this vehicle. But before that, it was 2015, when the security researchers got success in controlling the steering wheel of 2014 Jeep Cherokee. They were also able to control the engine shut down and brakes as well, but it was just a research.
The Affectees
Car Manufacturers
Factually, car hacking is very unlikely even in 2018, but it is confirmed that the hackers are now able to hack your car completely. It has made the car manufacturing companies more conscious and they are now trying to improve the security system in their cars.
The Car Insurance Companies
This situation has also created issues for the general auto insurance companies because people are now afraid of car hacking. These companies now demand the buyers to incorporate maximum security features and against it, they offer some wonderful discounts. The reason behind it is to secure the vehicles up to the maximum level.
Technology Providers
As the technology is directly associated with modern cars and mostly, the big names own the technological features of these vehicles, so car hacking has also become the biggest concern for them. For example, QNX is responsible to provide the navigation and in-car entertainment technologies and owned by Blackberry. Security has been the major feature of Blackberry since its start, but now, they are working on improving it more and their resources confirm that they are constantly monitoring the situation and have improved the technology a lot already.
Which cars will be affected more?
As we are expecting driverless cars in the near future, so if it happens, these cars will be the easiest target for car hackers. The reason is they have a plan to make the drivers irrelevant. When it will happen, the hackers will find it easier to control the vehicles as there will be no one behind the steering wheel in that situation. Experts consider the 2020s the era of driverless cars as from 2020, it is expected that these cars will hit the roads commercially. Before that, car manufacturers want to secure these vehicles up to the maximum level, although hackers can access any computer at any time and in every situation.
Realistically, the car manufacturers have achieved a lot and they have covered a huge distance in preparing the most advanced cars up till now. However, it has also given the opportunity for car hackers finding new ways of breaking the automation system. As cars are more complicated, so controlling the security is not an easy task for car manufacturers and they need to multiply their efforts in securing the cars technologically.Overall, it is important to know that car hacking is a real, potential and practical concern for the car owners. However, we cannot say even today that our cars are at a total risk because their operating systems provide us maximum safety features such as lane-assist technology, keyless entry, anti-lock brakes, hands-free calling, and automatic crash notifications, etc. Even then, the car manufacturers work a lot in avoiding cyber-attacks on the vehicles.
