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janrinok writes:

A collective of security researchers [computerworld.com] issued a letter [PDF] Friday [iamthecavalry.org] from the DefCon hacker conference in Las Vegas urging the automotive industry to adopt five principles for building safer computer systems in vehicles.

The group is operating under the name "I Am the Cavalry" and includes researchers and others concerned about the security of devices that have a direct impact on public safety. Over the last few years, a growing number of security researchers have investigated potential vulnerabilities in the electronic devices built into modern cars to control everything from entertainment systems to critical safety functions like brakes, steering and lights.

As automakers rush to build wireless functionality in some car systems to connect them with mobile phones and the larger Internet, there are increasing concerns that potential vulnerabilities combined with a lack of segmentation of internal car networks could open up attack vectors that expose vehicles to remote hacking, endangering driver safety.

At the Black Hat security conference Wednesday, researchers Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek presented an analysis of wireless attack surfaces in 24 car models from different manufacturers. They ranked the 2014 models of the Infiniti Q50 and Jeep Cherokee and the 2015 model of the Cadillac Escalade as the most hackable cars.

In its open letter to the auto industry, the I Am the Cavalry group urged car makers to build computer systems with security considerations in mind based on the principle of safety by design.

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Original Submission