Security of Car Software

We have seen some of the attacks recently, where people started to attack either the locks or the technology/software in the car itself controlling the chassis etc.

On DarkReading I was just reading this article: Car Systems Reminiscent of Early PCs

One of the things I do not get with cars is the way they are engineered, especially when it comes to the technology we, as drivers, use. Why do car manufacturers have to develop their own navigation system if today’s smartphones have one as well, which even has current maps? Why do we not see a better integration of these technologies?

One scenario I painted to a newspaper years ago: My car is standing in the garage and would have access to my wireless. Additionally (due to Bluetooth) it even knows my calendar and thus my first meeting and the location of it. As the car has a navigation system it knows how long I am most likely driving the next morning. I would like to see my car now to reach out to my favorite news provider and this provider shall compile a podcast for me at the length of my trip with my preferences. Would be cool, no? And I would even pay for it.

Now, what about security? If the software doing all this is 10 years old, I do not want it as it is a not calculated risk – and this is what we have in our cars as they do not rely on software which is available on the market and current.

Personally I think that they should change the way they look at it and some manufacturers already do and switch to embedded systems.

Roger

Comments

• Anonymous
  January 01, 2003
  thank you
• Anonymous
  August 11, 2014
  Thanks rhalbheer for the article. The topic you have included for car security is too good. Keep posting on, i have bookmark you for your latest post. Your article help me to ingress the sale of my storehttp://www.novusauto.com/