Hackers Can Remote Control Your Car

Two hackers and their guinea pig recently exposed a security flaw in a Jeep that allowed them to take control of a car while it was on the road.

The vulnerability that allowed the car to be taken over is in the touchscreen entertainment console used by Fiat Chrysler automobiles. It affects almost one and a half million Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and RAM vehicles.  You can check to see if your car is affected here by inputting your VIN.

The people who were able to hack the car are Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, who are security researchers.  Sitting in the comfort of a home, they were able to use the internet to take over the Jeep SUV of reporter Andy Greenberg.  They were able to affect the car's air conditioning and radio, track it via GPS and even turn off the transmission and brakes and control the steering.

Scary is not a good enough word.  Imagine what a criminal could do with this- taking control of your car and hold you ransom or even take you to a location of their desire where you could be robbed or worse.

Miller and Valasek have been working in conjunction with Fiat Chrysler, so the company already has a fix ready for the millions of vulnerable vehicles.  The company, however, is not pleased that the two plan to share details of the hack at the Black Hat Security Conference in Las Vegas.  For their part, the security researchers/hackers intend to release information for peer review and to help raise awareness of the the potential dangers consumers face in this modern, computerized society.