The Guardian view on car computer hacking: act now
Fiat Chrysler’s recall of more than 1.4m of its Jeeps so they can be fitted with a software patch to make them safe from having the controls taken over remotely, draws attention to an unnerving fact: any modern car is a network of anything up to 70 powerful computers that happen to be mounted on wheels and armoured in a tonne or more of steel. Every new car sold in the past few years is running about twice as much code as the whole of Facebook.
Last week’s recall is the first time a car manufacturer has been forced to acknowledge that modern cars are at risk from remote hacking while they are in motion. It will not be the last. Panic is not going to help anyone here, but this does mark the emergence of a potentially very serious problem.
Fiat Chrysler’s hand was forced by the release of a video in which two security researchers, cackling over their laptops, take control of a modern Jeep as it drives in heavy traffic 10 miles from where they are. They switch on the air conditioning, and turn up the radio. Then they switch off the engine. The driver, although he agreed to the prank, is completely helpless until they condescend to switch it on again. All this is accomplished without wires, and without any special equipment added to the car. The researchers only needed a laptop, a mobile phone and the internet address of the car they were targeting.
