WikiLeaks: Undetectable Assassinations from the Backseat of a Car
BALTIMORE(WJZ)-- A document about infecting control systems in modern cars was among the CIA's secret technologies revealed by WikiLeaks.
WikiLeaks alleges the CIA could use the technology to conduct nearly undetectable assassinations using a laptop from the backseat.
"The more electronic gizmos you have in your car, the newer the car you have, the more you're connected to the network with your car, the greater the probability something can be done to your car," says Anupam Joshi, who works at UMBC's cyber security center.
Vulnerable technology includes entertainment systems, phone systems, navigation systems, even wireless key fobs.
Hackers show it can work and want the world to know it.
"We tricked the car into thinking that we were the computer telling it to steer," says hacker Charlie Miller.
"Without us knowing what we do, no one knows about these issues," says Miller.
But the hack indicates the CIA certainly knows. What are the odds even spy agencies could take control of a car, let alone some malicious hacker.
"I'm not concerned about it." says accident reconstruction expert, Gary Lewis, who has spent decades studying cars and car wrecks.
"A bigger concern, the guy talking on the cell phone driving down the road wrecking me and my car, than I do by someone remotely tapping into my car's computer system," says Lewis.
"Attacks against cars requires fairly sophisticated technical knowledge and understanding and often proximity to the car," says Joshi.
Even from another nearby car, a hack might be possible, but not necessarily doable.
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