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3 Hardware Trojans in Electronic Devices
the vehicle tire pressure monitoring system, which allowed hackers to control the
movement of the vehicle, simply following it.
Even a superficial analysis of these events shows that cars become more and more
vulnerable to various viruses (malicious programs). PC and smartphones are still the
homeland of malicious software; however, car owners can also suffer in the future.
Moreover, consequences for car owners can be much more grave than simple material
or moral damage.
If your car is infected with a virus, also infected is everything that your hacked
computer is responsible for. For example, if the computer controls windows and
locking devices of the car, the virus or malicious code will take full control over
these parts of the car. The same can be said about steering control or brakes.
Any mechanic who started in the 1970s or 1980s would say that today’s cars differ
from cars of those times as much as a peasant’s cart differs from a spacecraft. Today,
motor vehicles are crammed with microcircuits, various sensors, and other electronic
components controlled by artificial intelligence. Today, it feels as if you rather need
to be a programmer than a car mechanic in order to repair a vehicle.
It is partially true. Today, multiple mini-computers are installed in modern vehicles, even though they are actually very different from usual PCs or laptops. Cars are
generally equipped with much simpler low-power computers with much simpler
processors that the ones usually find in home computers; these computers are
designed to perform tasks that are highly specialized and quite simple.
These computers, or, rather, the integrated onboard electronic system, control
specific functioning aspects, such as deployment of the airbag, operation of cruise
control, braking system, ABS, or the seat drive system. Even though the architecture
of these embedded systems is the same as in PCs, the equipment, memory, and
processors used by them are more similar to those of smartphones. Car computers
were more or less protected from viruses; this is due to the fact that, unlike with
computers, there were only few ways of connecting external devices to the virtual
environment of a vehicle.
Only recently, infection of computer systems with viruses required physical
contact of the hacker with the car; the hacker needed to connect to it mechanically,
by means of wires, and only in that case their manipulations would be successful.
In the past, installing a virus on a car was indeed a difficult task; the only access
to car computer was provided by diagnostic equipment of the manufacturer or reprogramming systems. In other words, mechanics could introduce a virus through a
computer or diagnostics software.
According to the information provided by ESET’s Aryeh Goretsky, another
researcher committed to the problem of car hacking, the absence of standardization of protocols greatly influences distribution of viruses on many cars; therefore,
hackers suffer a great shortage of equipment and software. “The attacker can consider
only several brands and models of cars as a target,” says Aryeh. This is good news.
However, there is bad news, too. Vulnerability to hacking and viruses is growing
every day, since car computers become more and more connected to the outside world.
“As more and more vehicles are fitted with interfaces providing access to the Internet
and the ability to visit websites, these vehicles get a risky ability of communicating
3 Hardware Trojans in Electronic Devices
the vehicle tire pressure monitoring system, which allowed hackers to control the
movement of the vehicle, simply following it.
Even a superficial analysis of these events shows that cars become more and more
vulnerable to various viruses (malicious programs). PC and smartphones are still the
homeland of malicious software; however, car owners can also suffer in the future.
Moreover, consequences for car owners can be much more grave than simple material
or moral damage.
If your car is infected with a virus, also infected is everything that your hacked
computer is responsible for. For example, if the computer controls windows and
locking devices of the car, the virus or malicious code will take full control over
these parts of the car. The same can be said about steering control or brakes.
Any mechanic who started in the 1970s or 1980s would say that today’s cars differ
from cars of those times as much as a peasant’s cart differs from a spacecraft. Today,
motor vehicles are crammed with microcircuits, various sensors, and other electronic
components controlled by artificial intelligence. Today, it feels as if you rather need
to be a programmer than a car mechanic in order to repair a vehicle.
It is partially true. Today, multiple mini-computers are installed in modern vehicles, even though they are actually very different from usual PCs or laptops. Cars are
generally equipped with much simpler low-power computers with much simpler
processors that the ones usually find in home computers; these computers are
designed to perform tasks that are highly specialized and quite simple.
These computers, or, rather, the integrated onboard electronic system, control
specific functioning aspects, such as deployment of the airbag, operation of cruise
control, braking system, ABS, or the seat drive system. Even though the architecture
of these embedded systems is the same as in PCs, the equipment, memory, and
processors used by them are more similar to those of smartphones. Car computers
were more or less protected from viruses; this is due to the fact that, unlike with
computers, there were only few ways of connecting external devices to the virtual
environment of a vehicle.
Only recently, infection of computer systems with viruses required physical
contact of the hacker with the car; the hacker needed to connect to it mechanically,
by means of wires, and only in that case their manipulations would be successful.
In the past, installing a virus on a car was indeed a difficult task; the only access
to car computer was provided by diagnostic equipment of the manufacturer or reprogramming systems. In other words, mechanics could introduce a virus through a
computer or diagnostics software.
According to the information provided by ESET’s Aryeh Goretsky, another
researcher committed to the problem of car hacking, the absence of standardization of protocols greatly influences distribution of viruses on many cars; therefore,
hackers suffer a great shortage of equipment and software. “The attacker can consider
only several brands and models of cars as a target,” says Aryeh. This is good news.
However, there is bad news, too. Vulnerability to hacking and viruses is growing
every day, since car computers become more and more connected to the outside world.
“As more and more vehicles are fitted with interfaces providing access to the Internet
and the ability to visit websites, these vehicles get a risky ability of communicating