Senate Bill Would Order Privacy, Anti-Hacking Rules for Cars

Two U.S. Senators have proposed a bill that would order the Federal Trade Commission and National Highway Traffic Safety Administration to set standards for cars and trucks aimed at protecting consumer privacy and shielding vehicles from hackers.

Authors Edward Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) say their bill was not timed to coincide with a Wired magazine report about two security experts who wirelessly hacked a Jeep Cherokee SUV. They took control of the vehicle's throttle, door locks, wipers, audio system and air conditioning as it sped along a highway several miles away.

Among other things, the Markey-Blumenthal bill would create a rating system consumers could use to determine the security level of a vehicle.

Last February Sen. Markey's office released a 12-page report highlighting the auto industry's apparent shortcomings in guarding their increasingly connected cars from cyber attacks or unauthorized tracking. The report concluded most new cars on American roads are vulnerable to wireless attack.