System Brakes

2Sep/08Off

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System Brakes In The News

Is It Possible That A Car Computer System Can Be Car Hacked?

While people shouldn't generally preoccupy themselves with an intense fear of Big Brother, Discover Magazine reports that being car hacked might be something more real than it is science fiction. With some knowledge of a modern vehicle's computer system, a wireless Internet connection and the right software, hackers just might be able to take control of a vehicle's functions from afar. This means they can activate or deactivate lights, brakes, the accelerator and – in the most extreme cases – even directional control of the vehicle. The laundry list of potential trouble that could come from such a situation boggles the mind.

Resource for this article: Can a vehicle's computer system be remotely car hacked

Car hacked - Coming to a nightmare near you

Being car hacked might go something like this.

You are suffering through evening rush hour, with only the new car smell of your shiny new smart car – no doubt purchased with a large auto loan – to keep you from cracking. A hacker sits on a nearby hillside with his Wi-Fi connected laptop or mobile device. Said hacker sends some malicious packet data, and suddenly your engine revs and you fly into the back of the car waiting ahead of you. That's another universe from the mechanical issues like sticky gas pedal, and software engineer Stefan Savage says that this could start happening very soon. A modern vehicle's electronic control unit (ECU) controls many different functions throughout a car. According to BBC News, approximately 100 megabytes of code are spread across those ECUs. Discovery Magazine rightly asserts that hackers can take a mile with that much space.

Savage has his own CarShark

CarShark is software Savage designed to show just how easily a car's electronic functions can be overridden by hackers. For instance, common modern vehicle computer systems such as Electronic Stability Control and Active Cruise Control connect directly to brakes, accelerators, wheels and automated parallel parking. Hackers with a bone to pick can overwhelm those systems with fake data and take control. It isn't a simple process that any dime-store hack could accomplish, but a sophisticated hacker could. Automakers will have to consider industrial strength firewalls in order to keep their customers safe, but even that won't stop sufficiently motivated car hackers forever. If hackers can take advantage of a single car, imagine what they'll be able to do when they figure out how to interfere with "road trains" and other bleeding-edge public transport options.

Car hacking can be used in a variety of ways

Stefan Savage points to the darkest aspects of car hacking, but Discovery points out that there are lighter uses for the digital watusi. Wired writes of an Austin, Texas car dealer who used car hacking to harass dead beat customers. Firing the horns and lights were the dealer's little way of making dead beats take notice. However, one employee went so far as to disable 100 cars. This goes to show that automakers would probably be wise to lock down their vehicles' computer systems to outside tampering.

More information on this topic

Discover Magazine

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2010/05/18/forget-car-jacking-car-hacking-is-the-crime-of-the-future/

http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/80beats/2009/11/11/in-the-commute-of-the-future-drivers-can-let-a-pro-take-the-wheel/

Questions about System Brakes

1991 buick regal problem?

I need a working anti lock system-brakes. or where to have it fixed
in california

Most cars now have ABS and most brake shops like Midas and Meineke have trained tech who can handle ABS problems. Just drive in and get an estimate for the repairs. Hundreds of California locations.