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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: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 22 2015, @03:44PM

    by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday July 22 2015, @03:44PM (#212360)

    I'm still amazed that OnStar hasn't been hacked. It's such a huge target with extremely broad reach.

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  • (Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @03:49PM

    by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday July 22 2015, @03:49PM (#212365)

    I'm amazed that you think that On-Star hasn't been hacked.

    • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Wednesday July 22 2015, @04:03PM

      by bob_super (1357) on Wednesday July 22 2015, @04:03PM (#212372)

      I think I would have heard if a few million vehicles got hit by constant ignition-kill commands.

      Hacked to track their GPS is not what I'm talking about. Hacked to cheaply piss off the US by blocking/snarling all traffic nationwide sounds like the kind of stuff most of our many victims must be day-dreaming of.