If you’re a Criminal Minds fan, you’ll know this TV drama produces fictional and enticing crime episodes where police and FBI agents investigate unique crimes and their perpetrators. One recent episode, “Collision Course”, focused on a crime where hackers targeted vehicles and took control of the vehicle’s controller area network, the CAN bus.
CAN Bus Background
CAN is a protocol, or a set of rules for communication between network devices, that is part of an automobile’s embedded system. CAN was first created by the company Bosch in the 1980’s to help efficiently and safely control the numerous electronic devices used in a car at one time. This can include everything from power windows, brakes, power steering, radio systems, GPS, car mounts for phones, and more. CAN is known for its ability to operate multiple devices, or nodes, on the same bus without a centralized host computer. Each device is its own master and work together using an arbitration process that relays messages and prioritizes those with immediate requirements.
Throughout the episode, the criminals were able to control multiple parts of the targeted car by hacking into the vehicle’s dash cam to watch the road, and were able to control steering, brakes, and throttle remotely, all from the hacking the CAN bus. The hackers even put up a firewall to prevent others from stopping them.
The show mentions only certain makes and models of automobiles were affected by the hacking, specifically those engineered in recent times.
Is Hacking Vehicles Really Possible?
You might be wondering, is this Hollywood talking, or can people actually hack into cars without physically touching them? It turns out this is not too far from reality, and it is possible to remotely hack into a vehicle. With recent advances in the automotive industry, it’s very common for carmakers to incorporate wireless systems in cars because it makes them modern and easier to operate–however, it leaves them more susceptible to hackers, who can stealthily access the bus remotely and access from afar.
Hacking Computers on Wheels
The cars that are progressively adopting a wireless set up are considered to be part of the “Internet of Things” (IoT), or as the Washington Post article, “Hacks on the highway” calls it, “Internet of Targets”. The article comments “cars sold today are computers on wheels, with dozens of embedded chips running millions of lines of code”. Carmakers are essentially turning the modern automobile into a smartphone. Many cars provide entertainment and navigation systems, and even allow phone calls to be taken using Bluetooth – Wi-Fi hot spots are becoming increasingly popular as well. This allows people who know the car’s IP address to track them from anywhere in the world. Once hackers get inside, it’s possible for them to rewrite firmware and take control.
Carmakers are becoming aware that this a real possibility, and some plan to manufacture cars to make them incapable of becoming hacked, however, some believe the cost to payoff ratio is questionable. These days, cybersecurity is everywhere, but for vehicles to have a similar shield of protection as phones and computers, it will be years before we catch up to speed.
Total Phase offers a variety of CAN tools for debugging and monitoring CAN systems. Learn more about the CAN tools offered by Total Phase here.
Have specific questions? Contact sales@totalphase.com for details about Komodo CAN Interfaces and other Total Phase products. You can also request a demo that applies to your application.