The New York Times again? They don’t even drive in New York do they?
“Nobody goes there anymore. It’s too crowded.” Yogi Berra
CSA
I think I will wait until some night I can’t sleep to read the article.
Unfortunately, there are folks from NYC who drive, and when they cross the river to NJ, they stand out like sore thumbs with their incredibly dangerous driving behaviors.
When I see a car in the distance, driving in the left lane of the semi-deserted interstate–well below the speed limit–I predict that it will turn out to have NY license plates, and ~90% of the time I am right.
When I see a car stopped in the left lane of US Rt. 1, with its left directional signal on–right next to the giant sign that says “No turns”–it turns out to be a car with NY plates ~98% of the time.
When I see cars stopped on the road shoulder, partially protruding into the right lane–they turn out to have NY plates ~90% of the time.
So hacking will be the least of their worries, huh?
My solution is to avoid buying an internet connected car at all costs.
If that means I have to buy nice used cars from here on out, so be it. Problem solved, or avoided.
I follow the norton advice, when you uninstall norton that comes on a computer, norton used to advise if you are worried about internet security disconnect your network cable. Have not seen it on any new computers lately, but if you are concerned about internet security, do not connect to the internet.
Do you know fitbit sends all your data to servers?
Do you know your internet provider sells your browsing history? Do you know that your voice over internet telephone provider monitors the content of your calls and sells it to anyone with money? Do you know that TurboTax sells your profile to everyone? Your NeXT thermostat sends your behavior patterns to the maker, so they can sell that info. How do you think these companies make money? Facebook doesn’t do what it does for nothing, nor does any other website.
Does a new car send info to somewhere that then sells it? I don’t know, but it sure could. Google maps follows you around if you let it, and markets your patterns. Car companies could easily do that.
It as bizarre to me, I (car related) made an order to a local drive in hamburger spot, for pickup in my car, a week later I had to go in and reactivate phones for google voice, now I have location turned off on the phone, and in my list was you visited whatever drive in.
I don’t see much in the way of a solution in the works. Just have to use common sense, and otherwise live with it. The companies that design & sell the software would have an incentive to thoroughly test their software to prove it is robust at thwarting hack attacks if they were to get fined a significant dollar sum each occurrence of a successful hack attack. But I don’t see that happening. I guess b/c they don’t have to thoroughly test it, it makes the cars less expensive to purchase, so there’s an upside to that anyway…
One thing to remember - if you charge your phone with the usb port on a rental car, it can upload contacts and other info into the car’s infotainment unit. Better to bring a plug-in charger that fits in the cigarette lighter.
When the Russians hack your car they will make it drive to the White House.
USB has four wires: 2 for power, 2 for data. One can use a cable that has only the power wires to avoid unintentional connection when charging. Somebody should (may already) make an adaptor that opens the 2 data wires so you need only 1 cable.
One computer expert told me, “if it’s free, it’s YOU that they’re selling”.
I agree, but in the future, this may not be possible.
In today’s newspaper, an article about “hacking” stated that people with “smart” thermostats that are connected to their smart phones have already had those thermostats hacked and locked by nefarious criminals who demand ransom. Just imagine if your furnace suddenly became inoperable while you were away, and your pipes froze. Perhaps even more ominous is the possibility of hacking “smart” door locks. 
While I like technology, I will NEVER install either “smart” door locks or a “smart” thermostat at my home.
Those connected cars have been around for quite a while. Remember OnStar? It had a cell phone built into the car to communicate with GM and its operators. When you bought the car with OnStar you signed a paper saying ALL the data collected belongs to GM. Don’t remember signing that? Most don’t but it was there.
I agree 100%. It seems totally foolish to connect your door lock to the internet, yet people do.
And I agree 100% re internet connected cars. As I also would not buy a car with a turbo or low profile tires. But the choices are narrowing every year.
+1!
My desire with my next vehicle–in 2-3 years–is to again be able to opt for a six-cylinder engine, rather than a turbo-charged four cylinder, and to be able to get a vehicle with tires that are NOT any lower in profile than 60-series. However, I may not have much of a choice in either category–dammit!
Re internet connected cars, i would think it’s simple to disable this. Or don’t pay the internet service provider. Or just cut the wires to the antenna.