Have a look-see, if and when you find time: Omar Ramos-Lopez, Laid Off Employee, Remotely Disables 100 Cars That one disaffected guy could remotely hack all those cars, begs more questions than answers. In particular, could someone with a PC and a cell phone hack a Prius, remotely set and lock its cruise control, such that it overrides its throttle position sensor? Been wondering to myself, the same kind of laptops, the same kind of cell phones, could there be one innocuous thing those runaway Toyota people have, in common? Regards, ~ Samuel, '04 Prius
You really need to read the article. I don't know how you jumped to your conclusion from what is written in it. Those cars had GPS systems installed specifically to help repo the cars so he didn't "hack" the cars. He was an exemployee of the dealership that does these installs. The article clearly says he used a password to do this. All he did was activate a system that worked as designed. He used the internet to do this but you can control a security camera using the internet, it's not like he went on the internet and hacked into 100 random cars, the internet was used because that is the interface used to control those GPS systems.
This is a sleazy used car dealership that preys on the unsophisticated and financially challenged, so they install remote kill devices to make the almost certain repossession easier. The "hacker" was just an unskilled ex-employee with a password who knew enough to open a web browser. I wonder if there was adequate notification of this to customers, or if it was buried in tiny text on page 563 of an inscrutable contract. Is the device removed if you eventually pay off your used heap? Makes me feel dirty just reading about it. :angry:
