FBI Warns Of Car Hacking Becoming A Real Risk For Motorists

According to Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), in the upcoming era where vehicles are self-driven, the risk of cyber-attacks on cars will increase. New self-driving vehicles could easily become the target of cyber-sabotage.

The automotive industry is developing vehicles that are more automated than the manual driving cars of the past. In order to be able to manage that kind of automation level, vehicles depend on software to initiate their functions. But the risk is that these new self-driving cars could be attacked by hackers.

Even if hacking vehicles might seem hard to believe for the general public, for security experts, this is no surprise. Actually, the experts working for the auto industry already investigated this possibility. About eight months ago, a couple of security researchers managed to hack into the system of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee.

The car was driving down a highway in St. Louis when the researchers were able to compromise the vehicle's systems and to kill the SUV's transmission. According to CNET, for the FBI such findings are exposing a very serious threat.

The Transportation and the National Highway Traffic and Safety Administration together with the FBI made a public service announcement on Thursday. The joint announcement warns about the real risks of network-based attacks on vehicles.

According to the public statement of the two federal agencies, the increased connectivity found in the modern motor vehicles aims to provide benefits such as improved fuel economy, added safety features and greater overall convenience. But manufacturers and consumers should also be aware of increasing cyber security threats that come with this connectivity.

A hacking attack might pose many risks to a vehicle, according to PC Mag. Among these are included life-threatening scenarios such as hackers disabling a vehicle's steering or braking functionalities.

In case that a hacker is not able to access all parts of the car's system, the vulnerabilities of the modern cars to cyber attacks are still very high. Especially if the access involves the ability of the attacker to manipulate critical control systems of the vehicle, "the safety risk to consumers could increase significantly," the announcement stated.