The whole has adopted computers and the Internet because it brings with it relative ease to use. But with every good thing, there has to be a balance and a bad thing comes out. The computerization of cars has brought with it much success, but the venture has been met up with various problems.
More computerization has meant more chances of cars being hacked. That’s why motor manufacturing company, Volkswagen is now taking measures to address the problem. The company is creating a new cyber security company that would be devoted to the protection of next generation vehicles.
On Wednesday the, car manufacturer announced that they were going to partner with a former Israeli intelligence agency director to make a company named the Cymotive Technologies. The amount of resources that Volkswagen will invest in the venture is unknown yet, but the move will come at a time where warnings of eminent hackings on computerized cars are also rising.
Even some of the older Volkswagen cars which do not have advanced computer technology are also vulnerable to being hacked in most of the cases. Just last month a report showed that there were millions of vehicles manufactured by the automaker that were vulnerable to a remote control key system.
Detailing the exploit in a report, the security researchers showed that they could reverse engineer the firmware of the car, which would make it easy to eavesdrop on the signals sent to the car by the owner’s key fob to the vehicle. Armed as such, hackers can open and lock doors as they please.
The researchers also added to be able to fix the problem, Volkswagen would have to invest loads of money to fix the costly firmware. When asked for comment then, the company simply said that they were looking at ways to make their cars secure with each passing day.
Other security researchers have also been saying that the newer cars coming into play nowadays are also more prone to hacking than their predecessors. Just last year, two researchers described how they had remotely hacked into a 2015 Jeep Cherokee. After entering the car, then go on and kill the engine and/or cut the brakes of the car. To address the problem, Fiat Chrysler later released an update to the problem which was loaded with the software fix.
According to Volkswagen itself, its attempts to tackle the hacking of cars is a long term investment. The new company will be lead by three former Israeli security experts including Yuval Diskin the former chief of Israel internal security service, Shin Bet. Diskin will be the chairman of the mew company. In a statement announcing the new company he said that their partnership with Volkswagen would see an upbringing of quality cyber security experts.
