On Monday, Sen. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) released a report attacking the automotive industry for not taking adequate security precautions to protect cars from hackers. It detailed a litany of vulnerabilities and safety measures that were lacking in modern vehicles, most of which are equipped with wireless entry points.
Out of 20 major car manufacturers, only two said they had technology that could detect a system infiltration in real time, the report found, and only one company was able to produce records of past hacking incidents.
Markey’s call for more automotive regulation coincided with a report on CBS’s “60 Minutes” showing employees from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency hacking into a Chevrolet through GM’s OnStar system, allowing them to control the car’s windshield, breaks, and even honk the horn.
That cars integrated with wireless technology are vulnerable to remote hacking is an old discovery. Researchers from the University of Washington had performed such a feat as early as 2010.
