Researchers Vow to Demo a Wireless Car Hack

Two network security experts say they will show in August how to remotely hack into a car's onboard digital network and take control of its physical systems, Wired reports.

The pair, Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek, have been researching the vulnerability of vehicle electronics since 2013 under a grant from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency. Two years ago they showed how they could gain control of a car's brakes, steering, horn and wipers after establishing a hardwired connection through a vehicle's onboard diagnostic port.

This summer the pair say they will do the same wirelessly through the vehicle's cellular or Bluetooth system. A truly wireless hack represents a far more ominous threat to today's vehicles and upcoming models that will be able to connect wirelessly to each other and their surroundings.

At last year's Black Hat hacker conference, Miller and Valasek presented an analysis of the hacking vulnerability of 24 vehicles. They named systems in the Jeep Cherokee, Infiniti Q50 and Cadillac Escalade as the easiest to break into.

Wired notes that in 2011 academic researchers at the Universities of Washington and California at San Diego demonstrated their ability to exploit a car's cellular connection, wi-fi network and Bluetooth systems to wirelessly take control of a car's steering and brakes.