Hackers Remotely Kill a Jeep on the Highway—With Me in It

[skip68]

Here's my    
Ignition, throttle, brakes and steering should ALWAYS be manually and mechanically controlled by the driver with NO computer.   You will never justify or convince me that having a secondary source that can take control of my vehicle outweighs my need for full control.   Now, if the auto makers want to have control on tuning, suspension, radio or whatever that's fine.   But that's it.   If you really want and need a car that drives itself then hire a limo or call a cab.   

[myk]

Here's my    
Ignition, throttle, brakes and steering should ALWAYS be manually and mechanically controlled by the driver with NO computer.   You will never justify or convince me that having a secondary source that can take control of my vehicle outweighs my need for full control.   Now, if the auto makers want to have control on tuning, suspension, radio or whatever that's fine.   But that's it.   If you really want and need a car that drives itself then hire a limo or call a cab.   

Yup.  If someone needs all of the nanny devices then they shouldn't be driving in the first place...

[Ghoste]

And yet just this week I read another lengthy article stating that not only should driverless cars be legal, they should be mandatory. 

[Mike DC]

                    
                 
                           

The auto industry has gotten the idea that it can do aviation-level computer controlling.  



But they aren't willing to do what that really demands:

Pricing everything much higher.  
Going years between releasing each new model.  
Doing HUGE amounts of rigorous testing.  
Minimizing bells & whistles.
Continuing to take responsibility for problems all the way to the end of the product's life cycle.  

[Pete in NH]

The pubic is well aware of hacking due to all the recent data breeches of all kinds of government and commercial systems. Now Jeep in the public mind has been labeled as hackable. I don't think saying the loop hole has been closed will buy them much. There will always be another loop hole to be exploited down the road. I don't think anyone can write perfect software.

And if I read you correctly, you are pointing out the impact to Jeep from a consumers point of view so to that I would add that not only consumers are well aware but now so are other hackers and as we all know they love to out-hack one another.
So it could be "game on" now.

Yes, unfortunately I'm afraid the hackers are now alerted to a new target and as you say I fear the games will begin. Can you imagine a hacker planting ransomware in your vehicle, pay up or you won't be able to start your car.

[Pete in NH]

                   
                 
                           

The auto industry has gotten the idea that it can do aviation-level computer controlling.  



But they aren't willing to do what that really demands:

Pricing everything much higher.  
Going years between releasing each new model.  
Doing HUGE amounts of rigorous testing.  
Minimizing bells & whistles.
Continuing to take responsibility for problems all the way to the end of the product's life cycle.  

Yes. absolutely. I think in the end they are going to pay quite a price for that mistaken attitude.

[Ghoste]

Or we will. 

[myk]

And yet just this week I read another lengthy article stating that not only should driverless cars be legal, they should be mandatory. 

That's what "they" want: to take personal choice, volition, action and freedom out of our hands...

[440]

Has anyone seen the movie "Demolition Man" ? Our society is headed that way.

[Mike DC]

    
We only think the push for safety has gone too far when it's not a military or terrorism issue.

[Ghoste]

Not necessarily.  My daughter is applying for a student visa in another country at the moment and had to answer a battery of ridiculous questions such as "are now or have you ever been a terrorist?"  WTF?  Like a real terrorist would answer that truthfully.  Just issue the damned visa.

[Dino]

Not necessarily.  My daughter is applying for a student visa in another country at the moment and had to answer a battery of ridiculous questions such as "are now or have you ever been a terrorist?"  WTF?  Like a real terrorist would answer that truthfully.  Just issue the damned visa.

I posed the same question to an immigration officer at Amsterdam airport once; do people actually answer yes to any of these questions?  With a straight face the guy told me: you wouldn't believe how many do.

Don't underestimate the stupidity of human beings.

[Ghoste]

Fair enough.

[6spd68]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/fiat-chrysler-recalls-1-4-million-autos-to-defend-against-hacks

[myk]

Yeah.  A LOT of people are going to lose their jobs over this one...

[Pete in NH]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/fiat-chrysler-recalls-1-4-million-autos-to-defend-against-hacks

Right, here we  go. This will plug the existing known hole in the current software. The problem is what are the other as yet unknown ones waiting for the hackers to find and exploit. Ask Microsoft how many security patches they've issued over the years for their systems. They have patches on the patches by now. It's  never ending game.

[Mike DC]

  
Exactly.  

They can either build the important systems physically separated, or else its, "Our new version of Windows works perfectly."  

[tan top]

Has anyone seen the movie "Demolition Man" ? Our society is headed that way.

  yeah  demolition  man been saying that for a few years  , the world over is going that way or trying to !  by the looks of it 

[Mike DC]

 
If the govt ever puts one of those bad language ticketing machines in my garage it would pay off the national debt in 2 years.

[myk]

http://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2015-07-24/fiat-chrysler-recalls-1-4-million-autos-to-defend-against-hacks

Right, here we  go. This will plug the existing known hole in the current software. The problem is what are the other as yet unknown ones waiting for the hackers to find and exploit. Ask Microsoft how many security patches they've issued over the years for their systems. They have patches on the patches by now. It's  never ending game.

Does anyone think that this may spark a movement to go back to "dumb" cars? 

[bakerhillpins]

For those of you that downloaded the update and are doing it yourselves..  The download is a self extracting executable. (.exe file) You need to execute the file which results in a disc image file (swdl.iso). This file, swdl.iso is what you need to put on a thumb drive and plug into the device port, not to be confused with the dumb charging only port next to it.  Well it's next to it in my RAM anyhow.

It takes a few seconds for the system to open the file and start the process.  I was a tad too impatient at this step. 

They have apparently updated their online documentation to include the unzipping of the ISO image file.... because it don't work unless you do that.  I downloaded the instructions a few minutes before I called and it didn't have anything about unzipping the file even though the nice young lady said they just made the change.     I'd say it took a good 20 minutes for my update.

[myk]

And now your truck will turn into Optimus Prime...

[tcs69rt]

If you got to the uconnect website and enter your Vin# it will tell you what system you have and if your vehicle is affected. My 2011 Challenger has the sweet system with DVD player and navigation and it's not affected. The wife's 2015 Durango SXT is a concern now even though it is low optioned and has the low end stereo in it. The website gives you the option to d/l the files onto a thumb drive to upload into your system. But after 2 attempts the low end stereo does not accept the files so the dealership gets to try it this week. 

[Aero426]

All I could think of are the machines taking over.

[tcs69rt]

Aero426 = Love it! Gotta love Stephen King