Over-the-air (OTA) updates for cars are often praised as a sign of the future, yet many worry they create new safety concerns.
Practically all new cars sold today are connected to the internet, and cybersecurity experts don't love that.
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What happens if bad actors compromise those systems? The answer is more nuanced than "hackers could take over your car while you're driving."
Where The Real Risk Lives
A new report from CNBC focuses on potential vulnerabilities. It's technically possible that connected vehicles could become targets for hackers or even hostile governments.
One Norwegian investigation into Chinese-built electric buses found that manufacturers retained remote access to certain vehicle systems through a cellular connection, prompting further reviews in the UK and Denmark.
Security analysts have also warned that internet-connected vehicles represent an increasingly attractive target for espionage and large-scale cyberattacks.
Those concerns deserve attention, but they're also easy to misunderstand.
Hollywood Vs Reality
The image many have of a hacker and a modern car is worrying: a person with bad intentions gains access to your car and steers it into a ditch.
Modern vehicles simply aren't designed that way.
Sure, they're connected to the internet and full of ECUs that control steering, braking, and acceleration. But there are several reasons a hacker isn't about to take over.
That doesn't make connected cars impossible to compromise. An attacker would likely need to defeat multiple layers of security before reaching safety-critical systems.
