A Texan auditioned for supervillain status last week, via automative cybercrime. Omar Ramos-Lopez allegedly disabled 100 cars remotely, turning off their ignitions and activating their horns. He used a social hack (former coworker's password) of an interesting networked system:
The Texas Auto Center dealership in Austin installs GPS devices that can prevent cars from starting. The system is used to repossess cars when buyers are overdue on payments, said Jeremy Norton, a controller at the dealership where Ramos-Lopez worked. Car horns can be activated when repo agents go to collect vehicles and believe the owners are hiding them.
We should expect to hear stories about Chinese military hackers planning to launch just such an attack upon American cars while being driven on highways.
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