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posted by martyb on Wednesday July 22 2015, @02:11AM   Printer-friendly
from the ping-of-death dept.

As the two hackers remotely toyed with the air-conditioning, radio, and windshield wipers, I mentally congratulated myself on my courage under pressure. That’s when they cut the transmission.

Immediately my accelerator stopped working. As I frantically pressed the pedal and watched the RPMs climb, the Jeep lost half its speed, then slowed to a crawl. This occurred just as I reached a long overpass, with no shoulder to offer an escape. The experiment had ceased to be fun.

At that point, the interstate began to slope upward, so the Jeep lost more momentum and barely crept forward. Cars lined up behind my bumper before passing me, honking. I could see an 18-wheeler approaching in my rearview mirror. I hoped its driver saw me, too, and could tell I was paralyzed on the highway.

[Ed. addition follows]

See also coverage at The Register Jeep drivers: Install this security patch right now – or prepare to DIE:

The full details of the hack are still private, but it relies on the uConnect cellular network; since 2009, Chrysler cars have included hardware to connect to this network to reach the internet. The two researchers have demonstrated that a canny hacker can use the uConnect system to get wireless access to major components of a car's controls, and potentially crash it remotely with no one being any the wiser. The flaw has existed in the system since 2013.

Miller says the hack will work on recent Fiat Chrysler motors – such as Ram, Durango, and Jeep models. The pair disclosed the flaws to the manufacturer so that a patch could be prepared and distributed before their Black Hat tell-all. The fix is supposed to stop miscreants from accessing critical systems via the cellular network, a protection mechanism you would have expected in place on day one, week one.


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  • (Score: 4, Interesting) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @07:13AM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @07:13AM (#212223)

    Aware of something odd with the car; dead coroner. [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [alternet.org]

    Mercedes' reputation [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [thenewamerican.com]

    Bad Physics; official stonewalling [googleusercontent.com] (orig) [examiner.com]
    The original site (San Diego TV6) has dutifully(?) taken down the page.

    -- gewg_

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  • (Score: 3, Interesting) by anubi on Wednesday July 22 2015, @08:56AM

    by anubi (2828) on Wednesday July 22 2015, @08:56AM (#212241) Journal

    Those are some scary links, gewg_.

    I have been looking for a plain white business van... like one of those Chevrolet 2500 express vans. But the thought of it going out of control on me in the manner of those links you put up makes me think very seriously to get the fuel pump power and run it to an emergency kill switch in the cab.

    If all else goes bad, at least I can override anything the computer can do to accelerate me out of control.

    This makes me think of the fate of the HAL 9000 computer in 2001: A Space Odyssey.

    I sure miss those days of the simpler mechanical cars. I am so tempted to buy a really old van and spend whatever it takes to restore it... not as a collectable, but something to be put back in service. Technology has made such improvements in vehicles over the past 30 years, but unfortunately, not all of that technology was an improvement.

    The later cars can be taken off the road by "smog" inspections... so that means removing existing technology is not allowed.

    In California, older cars, grandfathered in, could be retrofitted with desirable technology only. I do prefer port fuel injection to carburetion by a long shot, but I want my van's engine controller having nothing to do with the internet. I want a MegaSquirt or similar. Something open source where its troubleshootable and fixable.

    Its not the exhaust specs I have a beef with on smog testing... its the ability of one little test twerp to take my car offline not because I am polluting but because I failed some visual inspection. Because I tampered with something. Or removed something. Its my car and I feel justified in tampering with anything I feel like tampering with. If my tampering comes out my tailpipe, then its a social problem, and I see nothing wrong with them limiting my "right to pollute" on that basis.

    I do not mind them "sniffing my car's ass", but I think they have no rights to pop the hood. Or grope my girlfriend. Look if they want, but do not touch. Their ability to take cars offline for "tampering" just invites manufacturers to include all sorts of unremoveable crapware.

    --
    "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]
    • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @07:20PM

      by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @07:20PM (#212445)

      scary

      Makes you think that fiction writers aren't so much imaginative but instead have an inside view of what's really going on.

      I sure miss those days of the simpler mechanical cars

      Yeah.
      The newest stuff makes you long for the days when the biggest problem was on the level of the On-Board Diagnostics readout codes being proprietary.

      port fuel injection [...] a MegaSquirt or similar

      I was wondering how long it would take before someone mentioned aftermarket stuff.
      Somebody riffed on that in the previous story about closed-source farm equipment.

      Something open source

      There we get to the core of the issue.
      The analogy about the hood being welded shut; the pig in a poke problem.

      In California [...] the ability of one little test twerp to take my car offline not because I am polluting but because I failed some visual inspection

      You get the pitchforks, I'll get the torches.
      I remember all the ridiculous tubing in cars from decades back.
      That a guy could spot something out of bounds in that plumber's nightmare (different for each make and model) was fantasy.

      Actually, I'm amazed how well I can get along these days without needing a personal vehicle.

      -- gewg_

      • (Score: 1) by anubi on Thursday July 23 2015, @06:09AM

        by anubi (2828) on Thursday July 23 2015, @06:09AM (#212570) Journal

        I hardly ever use personal transportation anymore, which explains why I would want something so big.

        After much contemplation, I believe the most important possessions I have are my tools.

        I am getting more and more of the belief that significant social unrest is on the horizon.

        If I am forced to leave my home, I would like to have a place to sleep and transport my tools, so wherever I end up, at least I can offer my services and have the ability to perform same on the spot.

        Slowly but surely, I am migrating everything I have to run from 12 volts. All of my test equipment and even my soldering irons now run 12V. I intend to have four or five 100-watt solar panels on the roof of the van to power my little workshop so I can keep the batteries in my power tools and test equipment charged without having to run the truck engine.

        I believe something nasty is coming my way. After years of watching resource depletion, debt aggregation, and population growth, I get the idea this mess will come to a head in my lifetime. I feel my best way to survive is going to be offering service to others.

        If I go around collecting ammo, hoard goods, or try to collect rents, I feel I would most likely be shot just to get me out of the way. Either my own government or the people I am trying to leech off of would be motivated to do such. In a doomsday scenario, I could not much say I would blame them either.

        There must be already thousands of bullets hoarded already for every animal that might be shot for food. I believe the only people who are going to have food are our farmers...as they will be growing it. Messing with a farmer - you might as well kill the goose laying the golden egg. The only reason we have made it this far against Malthus is a credit to our farmers.

        However, I believe its a mathematical certainty that Malthus will win eventually, as we as a public seem to be going like yeast in a petri dish. It will not be fun. We will quickly discover that it will be much faster to destroy our infrastructure than it is to build it.

        I am hoping they will want to keep someone around who fixes broken stuff.

        --
        "Prove all things; hold fast that which is good." [KJV: I Thessalonians 5:21]