Wired: “[Charlie Miller and Chris Valasek’s] full arsenal includes functions that at lower speeds fully kill the engine, abruptly engage the brakes, or disable them altogether. The most disturbing maneuver came when they cut the Jeep’s brakes, leaving me frantically pumping the pedal as the 2-ton SUV slid uncontrollably into a ditch. The researchers say they’re working on perfecting their steering control—for now they can only hijack the wheel when the Jeep is in reverse. Their hack enables surveillance too: They can track a targeted Jeep’s GPS coordinates, measure its speed, and even drop pins on a map to trace its route.”

• Huffington Post: “As reporter Andy Greenberg recently detailed in Wired, hackers were able to remotely disable a Jeep while he was driving it. In a country where car ownership and the freedom of the open road are closely tied to individual and national identity, losing control over any vehicle you’re driving is a nightmarish scenario. Connecting more devices and vehicles to the Internet has immense economic potential but carries both security and privacy risks. The number of ways cars and trucks can be hacked has grown quickly, as automakers roll out new vehicles more screens and navigation, entertainment and communications systems in response to consumer demand.  Concern about the lack of security in vehicles led Sens. Ed Markey (D-Mass.) and Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) to introduce on Tuesday [July 21, 2015] the Security and Privacy in Your Car Act, or the “SPY Act,” which would require automobile manufacturers to build IT security standards into connected cars.”
• Update – see also Carmakers Accelerate Security Efforts after Hacking Stunts – Manufacturers are trying to improve cars’ computer security, even as they add functionality that could open up new avenues for attack.