White-hat hacker Samy Kamkar has reveled a GM OnStar security flaw that would allow a hacker to unlock and start a vehicle remotely. Kamkar accomplishes this feat by intercepting communications between the OnStar app on a users mobile and the OnStar service itself. Kamkar plans on presenting his findings in Las Vegas at the Def Con convention.
Fiat Chrysler had their own drama just days ago where a pair of hackers was able to gain access to a Jeep remotely and hamper with various systems. This caused Fiat to recall over 1.4 million vehicles so they could patch the flaw in their systems that allowed this to happen. Terrence Rhadigan, a spokesperson for GM, said there is an update underway to the app that should prevent this flaw from being exploited.
Terrence Rhadigan, when asked if it was safe to use the app before the release of an update, he replied that the probabilities of copying this demonstration in the actual world are not likely. Although the action involves one user at a time and the account of only that specific user is affected.
Cars are becoming more connected than ever and security is going to be a top of the heap concern. The big automakers will have to start investing into researching all scenarios and coming up with good security for the safety of all their users. Rhadigan is likely right, you shouldn’t have too much to worry about and hopefully the app update will be out soon and fix the exploit.
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Last Updated on November 27, 2018.
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