Nasty! A vehicle was crashed into a ditch by hackers that took control via a laptop ten miles away, Wired.com revealed. The perpetrators also switched-on a range of systems to disorientate the motorist. Rather than a reckless act, the hackers were demonstrating – with the consent of the driver - that motor manufacturers have to ensure their products are as immune as practical from any hackers that might have less honourable motives.

The vehicle was proceeding unhindered in St. Louis, United States. The two hackers - Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek - were ten miles away armed with a laptop computer. They then accessed the car via its entertainment system that was connected to the internet. The first intrusion was the ventilation system that started blowing full power. The radio then tuned to a hip-hop station at maximum volume. The motorist could not turn off the latter via the dashboard. The windscreen wipers and washer jets were activated too, and a picture of the hackers appeared on the vehicle's screen.

There was more to follow. The hackers deactivated the transmission which made the throttle useless. The car – that was on a fast road with no hard shoulder and an incline – slowed to a crawl. It was swamped by traffic some of which honked. The driver said at this point the experiment “ceased to be fun”. An eighteen wheel lorry had appeared in the rear-view mirror, after all. He regained some control by switching the engine off/on and crawled into a car park.

 

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