Lexus cars potentially vulnerable to virus?
Here's another Technology Gone Wild story to scare you. Russian anti-virus research firm Kaspersky Lab says
you can now add cars to the growing list of things that can be infected with a computer virus. It's not clear whether
or not this has ever actually happened, but apparently someone asked Kaspersky Lab if they knew "how to cure a virus,
which 'infected the onboard computers of automobiles Lexus LX470, LS430, Landcruiser 100 via a cell phone,'" and they
conjecture that a virus could potentially use Bluetooth to jump from a
Symbian-powered cellphone to the
navigation system of certain Lexus models. We won't be rushing to install anti-virus software on the fleet of cars we
have parked outside, but sooner or later most new cars sold are going to have both onboard computers and some sort of
wireless connectivity, making them low-hanging fruit for hackers and virus writers.
[Via Techdirt]
Filed under: Transportation, Wireless
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
YukonDawg @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Sounds like the plot of the new Battlestar Galactica, where networked computers were intentially forbidden from the spacecraft to prevent infiltration by the Cylon enemies...
Asher @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Two words: horse and buggy!
>
rcme @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Interesting... When this does actually become a problem, it will be interesting to see how the auto manufacturers/dealers handle it.
Auto dealer to customer, "Oh, your car doesn't run anymore, well, that's not our problem, your car must be infected by a computer virus. This, of course, is _not_ covered by your factory warranty. However, we would be happy to sell you our after-market auto-anti-virus-care package for an additional fee." Hmmm....
Robo @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Urr, horses can catch viruses as well.
TheZodiac @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Tomorrows headline might read: virus affects humans. Wack!
PatternGuru @ Dec 19th 2005 2:13AM
Indeed, this could be closer than most people think. I do a spot of bluejacking while in traffic jams, and quite regularly (about 10-30% of all discoverable BT devices I spot on the road during this pass time) I see BT names that are definately not normal cell phones, PDA's or headsets, but have an "embedded technology serial number" quality about them. Just a couple of days ago I marveled at one that was named "Audi ########" (where the ######## stands for some alphanumerical code of now unknown length which I cannot recall from memory). How many people are already driving around in cars that contain BT discoverable embeded technology without them noticing? ;-)