More info As vehicles and homes get more digitally connected it provides thieves and hackers with a range of opportunities to access valuable data, leaving the public more vulnerable to fraud and …
We at AUTO Connected Car News are fortunate to see the history of connected cars in action. It all started with the desire to help save lives and has grown into making many valuable connections for drivers and automakers.
AUTO Connected Car News’ History of Connected Cars
In the late 1990’s cars began to be connected wirelessly to other sources primarily for safety. At first cars were equipped with cellular connections for emergency notifications. Starting in the new millennium connections increased for safety, convenience, remote features and ultimately connecting to smartphones. In this decade starting in 2010, increased connectivity opened up opportunities for advanced safety driving features, parking/summon apps, self-driving, remote functions, and vulnerabilities for hackers.
The Early Years, The Late 1990’s
In the early years of telematics’ connected car services, the features were primarily for notifications of crashes to emergency responders, locating the vehicle and roadside assistance.
1996 The analog cellular OnStar system was announced. When air bags deploy, they system connects to an OnStar Advisor who relays the information to emergency responders.
1997 Mercedes-Benz introduced the first wireless key fob, called, Key-less Go” for the 1998 W220 S Class.
1997 BMW launched BMW Assist telematics services.
1998 GM improved the OnStar service with factory installed models that allow for hands -free calling and voice recognition.
1999 Mercedes-Benz launches Tele Aid telematics program with emergency response roadside assistance and locating of stolen vehicles.
The 2000’s
In this decade services that are launched include diagnostics, advanced navigation, web connections, stolen vehicle slow-down and smartphone apps with limited remote features.
2000 TeleAid on the Mercedes-Benz model S features remote door unlock.
2001 OnStar began providing real-time traffic information and remote door unlock with its fourth generation with close to 8 million interactions.
2001 Remote diagnostics hardware for autos launched by Continental.
2003 OnStar GM Goodwrench remote diagnostic service becomes available.
2003 Continental offers devices for vehicle health and…
A post from SentinelOne describes a new wiper malware dubbed “AcidRain” that may be connected to last month’s Viasat attack.
Viasat, a U.S.-based communications company, confirmed via press release Wednesday that it suffered a cyber attack last month. The attack targeted the company’s KA-SAT satellite internet network and affected “several thousand” customers in Ukraine, as well as tens of thousands of fixed broadband customers across Europe.
The internet provider called the attack “multifaceted and deliberate,” and gave some specific attack details in its press release. Viasat did not attribute the attack to a specific threat actor however, nor did it provide complete details regarding how the attack occurred.
A Thursday blog post by SentinelOne’s SentinelLabs discussed the attack as well as a potential malware — and threat actor — behind it. The security vendor described AcidRain as a “malware designed to wipe modems and routers.”
Wipers are a destructive class of malware intended to erase the storage contents of the devices it infects, as opposed to something like ransomware, which typically has an end goal of extortion. SentinelLabs researchers and post authors Juan Andres Guerrero-Saade and Max van Amerongen referred to AcidRain as the seventh wiper used in the ongoing Russian war with Ukraine.
The authors described the wiper’s functionality as “relatively straightforward.”
“AcidRain’s functionality is relatively straightforward and takes a brute-force attempt that possibly signifies that the attackers were either unfamiliar with the particulars of the target firmware or wanted the tool to remain generic and reusable,” the post read. “The binary performs an in-depth wipe of the filesystem and various known storage device files. If the code is running as root, AcidRain performs an initial recursive overwrite and delete of non-standard files in the filesystem.”
SentinelOne hypothesized that AcidRain was utilized alongside other potential binaries and scripts through a supply chain attack, mainly due to the functionality of the malware and how it matches with open source intelligence surrounding the attack.
Viasat told SearchSecurity in a statement that it does not…
Maricopa County’s vote-counting machines were not connected to the internet during the 2020 election, an independent review has found, further undercutting claims by former President Donald Trump and his allies that the results were “rigged.”
A trio of technology experts overseen by an impartial special master found no evidence of an internet connection, according to results of the review released Wednesday.
That echoes the county’s long-standing position as well as the findings of independent audits the county conducted a year ago. It also dispels unproven theories from election deniers that the tabulation machines were hooked up to the internet and therefore susceptible to hacking to throw the election to Joe Biden.
Biden won Maricopa County by 45,109 votes, according to the official results.
In a statement, Bill Gates, a Republican who chairs the Maricopa County Board of Supervisors, said “the unanimous conclusions of this expert panel should be a final stake in the heart of the Senate’s so-called ‘audit.’
“Whenever impartial, independent and competent people have examined the county’s election practices, they have found no reason to doubt the integrity of those practices. The Board of Supervisors remains committed to free and fair elections that conform to federal and state laws.”
Senate President Karen Fann, a Prescott Republican who helped negotiate a settlement that allowed scrutiny of the county’s routers, said the findings overseen by special master John Shadegg should bring some closure to people who doubted the security of Maricopa County’s election machines.
“We’re hoping this new information will restore some confidence back into our elections system,” she said in a statement.
However, she noted that this is not the final chapter of the Senate’s scrutiny of the 2020 election. The Senate is still waiting for Attorney General Mark Brnovich’s office to finish his investigation, based off the findings of the Senate’s contractor, the Cyber Ninjas. And state auditors are reviewing Maricopa County’s election process.
Two of the Senate’s biggest skeptics about the election said the router examination doesn’t qualm all their concerns.
“It just means Maricopa County’s IT…