Malware

Not the same old song: Researcher hacks into car with malware-laced CD

“Baby, you can drive my car.”

A researcherat the University of California, San Diego, claimed to have discovered a way to hackinto a computerized car's operational controls by playing a music CD encodedwith malware on the vehicle's entertainment system.

StephanSavage, Professor of Computer Sciences and head researcher, told attendees at the Usenix Enigma conference in SanFrancisco last week that playing 18 seconds of a .WMA track was all it took totake over the car's systems, according to a reportby TechFrag.

Security experts often warn that entertainment systems and other poorlysecured connected technologies can act as a gateway for hackers to gain access to more criticalvehicular systems.

Bradley Barth

As director of multimedia content strategy at CyberRisk Alliance, Bradley Barth develops content for online conferences, webcasts, podcasts video/multimedia projects — often serving as moderator or host. For nearly six years, he wrote and reported for SC Media as deputy editor and, before that, senior reporter. He was previously a program executive with the tech-focused PR firm Voxus. Past journalistic experience includes stints as business editor at Executive Technology, a staff writer at New York Sportscene and a freelance journalist covering travel and entertainment. In his spare time, Bradley also writes screenplays.

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