Posted on 06/26/2013 5:56:33 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
A former cybersecurity advisor to President George W. Bush says a sophisticated computer hack could have been the cause of the automobile accident that claimed the life of journalist Michael Hastings last week in Los Angeles.
Richard Clarke, a State Department official-turned-special advisor to several United States presidents, said the early morning auto crash last Tuesday was "consistent with a car cyberattack,” raising new questions about the death of the award-winning journalist.
Hastings died last week when his 2013 Mercedes C250 coupe collided with a tree in Los Angeles, California on the morning of June 18. He was reportedly traveling at a high rate of speed and failed to stop at a red light moments before the single-car crash. He was only 33.
Speaking to Huffington Post this week, Clarke said that a cyberattack waged at the vehicle could have caused the fatal collision.
"What has been revealed as a result of some research at universities is that it's relatively easy to hack your way into the control system of a car, and to do such things as cause acceleration when the driver doesn't want acceleration, to throw on the brakes when the driver doesn't want the brakes on, to launch an air bag," Clarke told The Huffington Post. "You can do some really highly destructive things now, through hacking a car, and it's not that hard."
"So if there were a cyberattack on the car — and I'm not saying there was," Clarke continued, "I think whoever did it would probably get away with it."
The Los Angeles Police Department said they don’t expect foul play was involved in the crash, but an investigation has been opened nonetheless.
In an email reportedly sent by Hastings hours before the crash, he told colleagues that he thought he was the target of a federal investigation.
“Hey [redacted}, the Feds are interviewing my ‘close friends and associates,’” Hastings wrote 15 hours before the crash.
“Also: I’m onto a big story, and need to go off the rada[r] for a bit,” he added. “All the best, and hope to see you all soon.”
The email was supplied to KTLA News in Los Angeles by Staff Sgt. Joseph Biggs, who says he met Hastings while the journalist was embedded in Afghanistan in 2008. It was reportedly send to a handful of Hastings’ associates and was blind-copied to Biggs.
“I just said it doesn’t seem like him. I don’t know, I just had this gut feeling and it just really bothered me,” Biggs told KTLA.
Reporters at Buzzfeed where Hastings worked say they received an email from their colleague, but the Federal Bureau of Investigation issued a statement two days after Hastings’ death to quash rumors that they had been looking into the reporter.
“At no time was Michael Hastings under investigation by the FBI,” FBI spokeswoman Laura Eimiller said.
According to the Associated Press, however, Hastings’ fingerprints were on file with the FBI and were used by the bureau to identify his body after flames consumed much the auto wreckage last week.
"I believe the FBI when they say they weren't investigating him," Clarke told the Huffington Post. "That was very unusual, and I'm sure they checked very carefully before they said that."
"I'm not a conspiracy guy. In fact, I've spent most of my life knocking down conspiracy theories," he said. "But my rule has always been you don't knock down a conspiracy theory until you can prove it [wrong]. And in the case of Michael Hastings, what evidence is available publicly is consistent with a car cyberattack. And the problem with that is you can't prove it."
Clarke, 62, spent nearly two decades at the Pentagon before relocating to the White House where he served under President Ronald Reagan and both Presidents Bush. He served as special advisor to President George W. Bush on cybersecurity until leaving the administration in 2003 and is currently the chairman and CEO of Good Harbor Security Risk Management, LLC.
Whatever happened here, Clarke is a buffoon.
Sorry, but you must not know much about modern cars.
First, most modern luxury cars don’t have a ignition interlock, and even if they did, the computer wins, since the ECM remains active even if the ignition key is off, if the engineers who designed the control system deem it so.
Secondly, most systems have ABS now. The solenoid for ABS can interrupt braking force to any given wheel in a modern car ... it’s part of the government mandated stability system. It can also *apply* brakes. My car, a 2012 Civic Si, actually did this tonight for me in a rain storm, to keep me from spinning into the ditch (low speed on wet road, but sport Michelins and rain water don’t get along).
Thirdly, most modern cars have a fly-by-wire throttle. The system simply has a sensor that tells it how far you have the accelerator pushed. The computer can choose to adjust the throttle plate via the servo, or not. This is also linked to the vehicle stability program. It allows the computer to maximize fuel economy (open the throttle all the way, turn off spark and fuel, and you waste a lot less energy on deceleration, just one scenario).
Fourth, many cars are shipping with electric power steering. Another computer controlled system, also under command of the stability program, you will not be able to steer against it.
Fifth, all these systems are networked, so they can figure out what is working and what is not, and can send control commands back and forth, modulating throttle, braking force, and steering force.
Sixth, a simple easter egg in the stability program could simply apply breaking force to one wheel, remove it from another. It does this all the time in normal operation. Having it fail spectacularly all at once wouldn’t be beyond the pale. It could also, ask the computer to go to maximum throttle.
I am a software engineer. Given the source code to these systems (or stolen source code for these systems -— do you really think Mercedes could keep NSA hackers out of their systems?), I could probably generate the hack in a day or less.
Even more interesting, is the fact that many systems are now sharing the same bus as the stability & ECM. Whose to say you couldn’t just upload the program using unintentional security gaps in the control software via the car’s Bluetooth interface, or key remote interface? It’s all possible if you have people paid lots of money to find these holes. Or at least stable day jobs to find these holes. Many hackers would jump at the chance of trying to pull off something like that.
When I read about him blowing through a stoplight at 100mph, this was my immediate thought on the matter, but I tend to not let my conspiracy mind out to play publicly, but I think it must be said this time.
So where do you get your technical info, seems as though it may be out of date?
If it makes the car go 140 MPH directly into a tree, it might.
Nice! We just bought a new GLK 350 and I love it!
Appears that the steering was very precise.
One of the nice things about diesel fuel is it doesn't burn like gasoline.
That's why military vehicles are all diesel, an ordinary accident won't make them burst into flames.
That takes an explosion to aerosolize the fuel...
Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping!
To get onto The Nut-job Conspiracy Theory Ping List you must threaten to report me to the Mods if I don’t add you to the list...
Note that in the video of the crash fire, there is a gusher just ahead of the tree. That has to be a fire hydrant smashed off, causing damage to the underbody and gas tank prior to hitting the tree.
It would help if someone who knows the street there could verify or refute the presence of a hydrant there. Most of the visible damage to the vehicle is to the front. If the vehicle had hit a fire hydrant, the engine should have been shoved more underneath the vehicle, not launched down the road.
Also, a gushing water source would tend to spread the fuel more (gasoline floats), not leave it in a puddle under the vehicle.
Sounds like drone technology, applied to a car.
Sweet!
A lit of people wanted him dead.
Lemme ask y’all this, if there was a cybercarjacking scene in a Jimmy Bond double-naught spy movie and the guy’s car drives off the road into a tree and explodes, would you accept it or would you scream, “NO WAY! WHAT A CRAPPY PLOT TURN!!”
oh goody....Dick Clarke weighs in again...mister ‘let me apologize to the American people’ Clarke....the doofus who’s hair is on fire and he still doesn’t know a bit from a bot
The car exploded before it hit the tree.
Bluetooth has a range of about 3 feet.
Beat me to it. That’s probably what the accident report will say.
They learned that with Snowden.
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