Security, lack thereof, one each…
Marco De Vincenzi, a researcher at the Istituto di Informatica e Telematica (IIT) in Pisa, Italy, is trying to bring attention to this issue. He and his colleagues led a discussion on EV security and privacy vulnerabilities at the 2023 IEEE 97th Vehicular Technology Conference. The results of their presentation are highlighted in a subsequent conference paper.
De Vincenzi notes that when people plug their EVs into charging stations, it’s not just power flowing through those cables. “These charging stations handle all sorts of data, from how you pay to your exact location,” he explains. “But here’s the kicker: The rules to keep this info secure? They’re like a door with no lock.”
Full article, HERE from IEEE Spectrum.
It is things like this that just set my teeth on edge, because this is NOT the first time hacking of ECUs has been brought up!
If I remember correctly, the whole hacking issue was identified well over ten years ago, and discussed in a number of different online car forums and it’s STILL going on!
I guess once the hackers start causing wrecks/killing people they ‘might’ decide to look at it…
GRRRR…
It’s not a bug; it’s a feature.
That depends on whether the “right” people are wrecked and killed, I’d imagine, for hacker definition of “right.”
Yeah, it’s by design, and they never learn, and this will come back to bite people (and the manufacturers) on the arse.
Kind of like how the “can bus” that connects all of the systems in a vehicle isn’t as secure as it should be, and how they want vehicles to communicate automatically with each other on the road, and how white-hat hackers are already demonstrating that this is a really, really bad idea…
You’d think people would get tired of missing a big chunk out of one of their hindquarters.
This may not be a bug but a feature – tracing a location, controlling the vehicle, and disabling the vehicle are all things authorities may want to do at some point. If 3rd parties can do that as well, that’s just a minor inconvenience for the authorities.
There are times a Model A or even Model T looks like maybe it’d be a good idea. Though something a bit modern, like a Studebaker, might be slightly more practical.
I have a 2006 Honda Element. Old school mechanical locks, key-required ignition, NO inter-vehicle comms. If I could go back to my 1966 3-cylinder SAAB, I would.
Remember when Tesla was a hero for remotely unlocking battery capacity in Florida during a hurricane evacuation?
Now, just exactly what is stopping the same feature from being used to disable your battery completely to enforce a curfew?
No EVs for me, not now, not ever, and not even a Plug-in Hybrid.
Nothing is keeping them from doing that. As it is happening right now in China with their social justice point system.
My in-laws have a Honda hybrid. Nice looking car(SIL had to have a charging station install at the house for the car). So a while back I was over visiting and he tells me that his folks went out to get in their car and they couldn’t unlock the door with the clicker or their key. They ended up having to call the Honda dealership to get them to send a guy out to override the lockout code that somehow got tripped. . .
Even worse, there’s so many different apps an EV owner must download to their phone and then their car. One for every different charger network.
And, of course, the chargers are usually where cell phone service is spotty.
And, of course, the apps are about as secure as a screen door in a crack house.
Yeah. EVs are great, right? That’s what they tell me, right?
Keeping my gas guzzler for as long as I can.
So you’re charging your car and someone else is charging your card.
Coffypot recently bragged he saw a row of EVs charging but not being used so he unplugged them to save electricity. Is that an answer?
Serious note. Those systems are probably vulnerable to hackers who will shut them down.
All- Like you, I’ll keep my dinosaur belching SUV for as long as it holds up…
Oh look, they predicted EV’s pretty accurately in the movie Total Recall:
https://tinyurl.com/2anxjrky
“For a slightly higher fee, you can have data-less charging! Just sign here, here, and here. And initial here. Oh, and we’ll need your credit card info and your firstborn male child. Kidding! We’re gender neutral- a firstborn of any of the 37 recognized types is acceptable.”
And a pint of blood as a deposit!
Ag- Yep…
Robert/Ed- Oh yeah!
EVs are so very awesome.
LSP- Sure…;-)
While hacking is an issue, think of the data they are collecting, who has it, and what they, or the government, could do with it…
I think that hacking the EV from the charging station would be hard (not saying impossible, but despite the IEEE article, I think there is unlikely to be a glaring weakness on the car side), however I am absolutely certain that hacking the charging station to do nefarious things would be dead easy. That could include something as simple as not providing any charge and connecting to all the other stations in the same area and telling them to stop working too.