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.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by VLM on Wednesday July 22 2015, @11:54AM
Just pointing out that you can fight stone age tribesmen all you want, but if we ever attacked a post 1900 era civilization, they'd pown SOME of our cars and shut them down remotely. So its not just the local cops, but if we ever fight North Korea you may as well kiss big brother cars goodbye, they aren't going to work for long.
I know all about GM's big brother phone home crap and specifically bought a toyota that has none of that. Not the only reason but it was one of the reasons.
A friend of mine accidentally bought a big brother car and a mechanic friend of hers simply unplugged the antenna at her request once she got creeped out. There is a long, long tradition in the service industries of people wrapping corporate GPS trackers in aluminum foil and blaming solar flares or WTF.
At this point its very easy to find a car without big brother and disabling big brother is still easy. I'm sure that'll be legally changed in the future, just not yet.
Another interesting thing to think about is government cars. Presidential limos, civvy contractor supply trucks... Could have all kinds of fun.