A cybersecurity investigation has revealed how easily a Chinese-made utility vehicle can be hacked, prompting Australia’s automotive industry to call for greater transparency around connected vehicles.
The Australian Broadcasting Corporation’s Four Corners investigation handed a BYD Shark 6 to cybersecurity firm Fortify Labs, giving its experts two weeks to try to access the vehicle’s digital systems. Fortify Labs co-founder Dan Hreszczuk said it was “scary how open the BYD Shark is to a hacker”, with the access used by the researchers not even requiring a password.
Mr Hreszczuk was able to remotely turn off the vehicle’s headlights and windscreen wipers, lock its doors and use its microphone to listen in on phone calls.
The investigation highlights growing concerns about the cybersecurity, privacy and safety risks associated with modern connected vehicles, which increasingly rely on software and internet connectivity to operate.
Electric vehicles and hybrids can contain large numbers of sensors, cameras and microphones that collect and transmit data, while their internet-connected systems allow manufacturers to update and manage a range of functions remotely.
The findings have prompted the Australian Automotive Dealer Association (AADA) to call for greater transparency from manufacturers and government authorities around connected vehicles entering the Australian market.
AADA chief executive James Voortman said customers were increasingly asking dealers what their vehicles could do, as well as how information collected by the vehicles was being handled and protected.
“Those questions are not limited to privacy and data collection. Customers also want to understand how these technologies operate, what protections are in place and how manufacturers and regulators are managing potential cybersecurity and safety risks,” Mr Voortman said.
The concerns extend beyond the potential for individual vehicles to be compromised. Former head of the Australian Cyber Security Centre Alastair MacGibbon has previously warned about the potential risks associated with connected vehicles made by Chinese manufacturers.
“If we think about a modern connected vehicle, and it doesn’t have to be an EV, but any type of connected vehicle, but particularly EVs because of the amount of software they’ve got, they’re always on,” Mr MacGibbon said.
“The national intelligence law in China means that the agencies of the CCP (Chinese Communist Party) could direct that that data be extracted and used by them.”
(Picture: Yay Images)
