Even if the car was 12 miles away, hackers can easily find their way inside it. Over a wireless connection, a small group of hackers can unlock the Tesla Model S’s doors, open its boot while in motion and – most concerningly – activate the brakes.
This was demonstrated by security researchers at the Chinese technology company Tencent. It was just a demonstration, but it says a lot. The Tesla vulnerability was not used on the road, and the company fixed the problem.
However, when disclosed eight years ago, it was seen as a cause for concern. It is a sign that as cars became increasingly technologically sophisticated, with critical functions controlled by centralised computer systems, they also became more vulnerable.
Since then, hacking cars has become a regular stunt at cybersecurity conferences. But there is a growing fear that they will not even have to be hacked. What if vehicles could be controlled not by cyber criminals, but by hostile states?
A few days ago, President Joe Biden raised the alarm about the growing prevalence of Chinese components in electric and future self-driving vehicles, as it outlined plans to ban components "with a sufficient nexus" to China.
The US Department of Commerce said it planned to prohibit Chinese parts related to vehicle connectivity and automated driving, saying that "malicious access" could allow enemies to "remotely manipulate cars on American roads".
"Cars today have cameras, microphones, GPS tracking and other technologies connected to the internet. It doesn’t take much imagination to understand how a foreign adversary with access to this information could pose a serious risk to both our national security and the privacy of US citizens," Gina Raimondo, Biden’s commerce secretary, said.
To cynics, the move could be seen as just another step in an escalating trade war with China, which is preparing to flood the world’s markets with cheap electric vehicles. China’s foreign ministry called the move "discriminatory".
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