A U-S Senate report shows that auto makers are not protecting wireless technology from hackers and they could potentially take control of your vehicle’s brakes, control the speed, and change the speedometer to controlling the lights. Omaha computer expert Thor Schrock is the owner of Schrock Innovations and says this report should not overly concern car owners right now.
Schrock says these vulnerabilities in older vehicles have sync computer systems using Bluetooth. He says newer vulnerabilities will probably come from the WiFi sync systems where vehicles can become a rolling WiFi hotspot.
Schrock says, “My truck gets internet from my phone and the bad guys can roll up beside me and try to hack my wireless network if I don’t secure it with a password. If you are not using the Bluetooth in the vehicle you can usually turn that feature off through the dashboard. You can go into the radio and turn off Bluetooth. If it is off no one can hack it. Same thing with the wireless networks. If you have those turned off in the vehicle no one will be able to get into it.”
Schrock says automakers are addressing safeguarding this technology in new vehicles but not current vehicles with that technology.