Posted on 07/24/2015 12:00:38 PM PDT by Olog-hai
Fiat Chrysler has decided to recall about 1.4 million cars and trucks in the U.S. just days after two hackers revealed that they took control of a Jeep Cherokee SUV over the Internet.
The company also disclosed in government documents that the hackers got into the Jeep through an electronic opening in the radio and said it would update software to close it. On Thursday, Fiat Chrysler sealed off a loophole in its internal cellular telephone network with vehicles to prevent similar attacks, the automaker said in a statement.
The vulnerability exposed by the hack rippled through the auto industry and drew the attention of government safety regulators, who on Friday opened an investigation into the Jeep incident.
The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration said it would find out what other automakers use the same radios. It came as the industry is rapidly adding Internet-connected features such as WiFi and navigation that are convenient for drivers but make the car more vulnerable to outside attacks.
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I thought those were meant to controlled by radio...
Prevent?
Or retrofit?
awesome.... :-)
So they could control the accelerator, the brakes and the transmission.
That’s more than that old guy in the parking lot yesterday could control.
I honked at him and he couldn’t control his middle finger, either.
1/2 a peace sign, eh?
Ha! :)
“an electronic opening in the radio”
So the schizos were right all along!
I wonder if the fix for this will involve tinfoil.
In my professional capacity in IT, I’d want to establish how the mother-F it came to be that a software development group implemented a means to control our vehicle’s speed and brakes and exposed it via cellular communication to the outside world.
After review, I’d separate from the company everyone up and down the enterprise who had a hand in this, from the original ISR creator, functional specification signers, and developers/integrators. Only those who would survive would be those who could show me that they objected to it by saying something along the lines of “This is a really bad and reckless idea”, even if they ultimately signed off on it.
They’d walk out of the company under legal threat but with a suitable severance package — on contingency, of course.
It’s an offshoot of the automatic parallel parking feature. Once you’re in the CAN bus, and you know the address of the various control nodes for accelerator, steering, and braking, you’re in.
I think I’ll keep my old pickup truck with the manual transmission.
So the schizos were right all along!
I wonder if the fix for this will involve tinfoil.
Actually tinfoil around the GPS and cell phone antennae on the car would probably work...:^)
My thoughts exactly. Where was the need for this in the first place? Where was the common sense involved with the planning stage of the software? They should design a self destruct button dangerously close to the radio control as well.
You know, it used to be that you had to show the ability to parallel park to get your license.
Anyone who can’t do it, shouldn’t have a license to drive.
Aka, feature, or bug?
“Where was the need for this in the first place? “
This probably doesn’t have anything to do with the government’s desire to tax drivers by the mile driven. After all, I’m sure everyone will be honest in reporting their mileage...so the government won’t have any need to automatically upload the info.
“Beginning mileage upload now. Please do not turn off your ignition. This will only take a few moments “
“Thank you. Upload is complete. Have a nice day.”
Somebody notify Michael Hastings..
The frustrating thing is that the fix has to be absolutely simple in order for them to announce a recall so quickly. Which means they gave it no consideration at all during planning and development of the vehicle. That has GOT to change.
I have my suspicions about how this happened, but it's nothing related to something that belongs on an Art Bell-type conspiracy show. I'm not even suggesting that some nefarious outfit deliberately developed code with the express purpose to put drivers at risk from outside hackers.
My suspicion centers on rank incompetence at the project management and development level -- and where personnel in those groups are based.
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