Testing Out Cell-Phone Viruses on a Prius 196
Mikko Hypponen writes "Couple of months ago there were rumours floating around that Bluetooth viruses could infect the on-board computers of some Lexus cars, or at least cause some visible effects on them. We took a Toyota Prius to an underground bunker and tested various Bluetooth mobile phone viruses and assorted Bluetooth attacks against the onboard computer. Results were somewhat surprising. It came as no surprise that we could not infect the car, but the Prius performed in the test even better than expected. No matter what we did the car did not react to the Bluetooth traffic at all. Cabir tried to send itself to the car and the car just did not allow the Bluetooth OBEX transfer to happen. Then, the whole car crashed (but not because of a virus)... Full story with pictures in our weblog."
Well, that's good... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Well, that's good... (Score:2)
I'll have a pint as soon as I get home (1 left!)
One thing left out of the report (Score:2)
Still At Risk (Score:5, Funny)
Does that mean that a similar DOS attack can disable most cars in a car park?
Re:Still At Risk (Score:1)
"After intensive tests for all morning, the battery of the car was running low!"
However, if a car was left with it's electronic equipment turned on (for a long period of time), it sounds like it could be possible. It's a very interesting idea to DOS a car...
Re:Still At Risk (Score:5, Insightful)
A much easier to execute Denial-of-Service would be to slash the tires, doncha think? Only takes about 45 seconds to get to all four of 'em, it isn't terribly noisy, and I've never been caught doing it.
I mean, it seems like that detection would be very unlikely.
Re:Still At Risk (Score:1)
Sure, we could have nukes Iraq, but isn't it more fun to drop smart bombs guided by freakin' laser beams!?!?
Re:Still At Risk (Score:1)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2, Funny)
that's sophistication, my friend.
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2, Interesting)
Yeah, it makes a nice whistling sound, but that is kinda the attraction too -- somewhere in the parking garage there are four whistles gradually becoming lower, quieter...
The victim walks out, sees four flats with no apparent damage *WTF*
Nothing as serious as having to buy 4x$120 tires, just aggravating to have to have someone come and repair the wheels onsite (esp in a parking garage where clearance will not permit a ro
Re:Still At Risk (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2)
Well, yeah, except that one DOS unit in a parking garage that contained 10 bluetooth cars, could disable all 10, and is not detectable.
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2)
A security camera will not catch you wirelessly interferring with a car.
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2)
Please elaborate.. I've never been caught doing it either. I've not been caught simply because I've never done it.
Are you implying you've done it?
Re:Still At Risk - for vandals (Score:2)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2, Insightful)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2, Interesting)
Re:Still At Risk (Score:2)
The car was underground, hence the engine would not have been running. All the car's electrical systems were in use all morning, with no alternator to keep the battery charged.
Just leaving the ignition switch at ready keeps lots of electrical systems in the car running, such as solendoids within the engine, cabin lights and do
Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:3, Funny)
Hmmm, maybe the Matrix is happening
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:1)
No, they said it was a Prius, not a Matrix [toyota.com].
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:1)
I'll ask Joey (aka Honda in Japan).
He'll know what to do.
Maybe they could just buy a bigger battery? Or just stop playing the MP3 stereo at 11? Or turn off the neon undercarriage lighting?
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:2)
It's a toyota prius, not a honda civic
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:2)
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:1)
Re:Only works on the Lexus, not the Prius (Score:2)
what a shitty error message (Score:5, Insightful)
Granted, the transmission may not be working -- but there should be a diagnostic saying "OMFG Battery Voltage Low" first. If you lost your arms in an industrial accident you don't start by telling the doctor that you have a hard time holding pens...
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:5, Informative)
IAAAEE (I am an automotive electrical engieer)...
From an automotive safety standpoint, a malfunctioning park interlock system is pretty close to the top of the list of bad things. The part interlock is the system that prevents the an automatic transmission from shifting out of park unless the vehicle key is in the ignition and there is a second input from the driver (typically by pressing the brake). If the park interlock malfunctions, a simple bump of the shifter (or possibly even the vehicle) might cause the car to shift out of park and begin to roll away. Typically, any failure that disables the function of the park interlock is given the highest severity (Severe injury or death occurs without warning) on any type of DFMEA analysis.
By prominitly displaying a warning on the dashboard, this failure drops down a few notches in severity as there is clear warning that a failure has occured and instructions from how to minimize the risk.
As a result, if the Prius is only capable of displaying one fault condition at a time, a fault with the park interlock system is much more important to display than a low battery voltage. That having been said, some sort of indication of a low battery condition would also be a good idea, perhaps via a trouble light on the dashboard or elsewhere.
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:4, Funny)
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:2)
A manual car doesn't roll away when left in gear.
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:2)
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:2)
It's very easy to slide an automatic car from park to reverse, esp if the gear selector lever is slightly misaligned. With a manual, you have to put the transmission in neutral *and* set the parking brake to leave a running vehicle - or park up against something. If the tranny does slip into gear, the brake or object you par
Mine will (Score:2)
Sure a manual will roll while it is in gear. 5Th gear often does not have the ability to keep the car from moving. Particularly if your engine has 160,000 miles on it, and low compression on one cylinder, like mine does.
Most manual drivers leave their transmission in reverse when they leave the car. Reverse has the highest gear ratio of any gear, so it is the hardest for gravity to work against. (Remember that the driving is happening from the other end of the transmission, so all the gear ratios ar
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:3, Insightful)
Agreed. So when it happens, it should probably be displayed, even if that means hiding other, less important error-messages.
However, this also means it *shouldn't* be happening as a result of something common. A low battery-voltage is a pretty common error-scenario. To have something dangerous happen as a result thereof is simply bad design.
If they do keep this bad desig
Re:what a shitty error message (Score:2, Informative)
the guy took it to the BMW dealer, they hooked it up to the diagnostic, and said that my friend had fried all the electrical on the system, because it wasn't
Apocolypse Now! (Score:3, Funny)
We're all doomed! [imdb.com]
Re:Apocolypse Now! (Score:2)
In other news... (Score:5, Funny)
Police have warned all families with nerdy children to be on the look out for unexplained cars turning up in their garage.
Re:In other news... (Score:1)
Hackers don't kill people while playing GTA: Seattle, insecure OS on People Personality Pleasure Pods (aka Cars For Families) kill p
Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:5, Insightful)
Definitely reminds me of "Abort/Retry/Fail" error message of so long ago. The first time you ever see the message, you hit "retry" a few times hoping it will work. Eventually, the computer teaches you to never try "retry" because it only puts up the error message again.
This virus is social engineering at its best, just like the whiny kid in the grocery store. Keep pestering until they say "yes."
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:3, Interesting)
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:1)
The computers are a few years old, and some of them have bad floppy drives. After a successful image, we needed to change each computers network id using a program called SID Changer off of a Floppy disk. On a few of the computers, the program would fail, giving the typical MS-DOS error (Abort/Retry/Fail). Frustrated, I hit r a bunch of times, and lo
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:1)
I often found that the retry option was often very useful. In particular if I had a disk that was on its way out I often found it could take a lot of attempts before the computer would be able to read all the data off of the disk. Now, I d
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:2)
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:2)
I can just imagine those antivirus companies love this. They'll be selling antivirus programs for your phone for a $30/year subscription.
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:3, Insightful)
Except that you can't take the virus to the frozen foods aisle and beat it with a loaf of frozen bread to get it to shut up.
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:2)
Re:Virus that pummels users into submission (Score:2)
Re:Underground bunker and all that (Score:2)
Not Suprising, But still interesting (Score:3, Interesting)
Also, I liked the apparent security features in the car, that it didn't react to the bluetooth traffic, but then again, this is probably just due to an inconpatiblility - i.e. the car won't except any type of data but a specific type, like a valid VCARD phone book.
Re:Not Suprising, But still interesting (Score:2)
I actually hear that all the time, it's just not true.
Re:Not Suprising, But still interesting (Score:2)
After a while, it becomes aggravating how many people see something having to do with any high "tech mumbo jumbo" and assume it really is just "random mumbo jumbo" that somehow works most of the time.
A Trojan Horse (Score:1)
Re:A Trojan Horse (Score:2)
Crazy (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Crazy (Score:2)
I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
however, I strongly encourage everybody else to hate the car with a purple-veined passion, so when I do get into a position to.... errr, no, I just want you all to hate it. not saying why
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:1)
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
Don't overlook buying used.
I bought mine with 16K on it. As I was signing the paperwork, the finance officer came to the salesman and asked if the price was correct. There was an error. They sold it for the base price. I got the fully loaded model with the NAV system. It should have sold for about 3K more. It was too late. I got my original price. Sweet.. Know the value before you go to the dealer. Watch for a bargin. They are out there.
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
I didn't think I had to explain the diference between new car MSRP and used car Blue Book.
I got a fully loaded Prius with 16K for under $18K. I'll leave it up to you to figure if that's 3K under MSRP or Blue Book.
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
FYI, the O1 didn't have the NAV option or the cruise control. The 18K price is the current prices at dealers without the options and is the price I paid 2 years ago for the fully loaded 02. It's depreciation has been zip for the first 2 years. I haven't had any other car hold value like that. I got the Car Facts printout on it. I've been happy with it. As far as performance, it's a lot more peppy than
Too late .... (Score:2)
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
Toyota sends out a set amount of cars to every dealership, even if one doesn't sell a single one and has to ship it to another dealership. Last march i could have driven 3 hours to pickup a fully loaded white prius in western PA if i wanted to, they had it sitting on the lot. The people who sign up for the car wont get called until their specific color comes in. If you take any color, you can get it fast (the toyota dealership around here had two white o
Re:I am beginning to like the prius a lot (Score:2)
they learned. well. so well they are threatening to knock DC out of fourth place and are gaining fas
Rebooting the car... (Score:5, Funny)
Does anyone else feel disturbed by that statement?
We waited hesistantly a moment, turned ignition off and rebooted the car...
Re:Rebooting the car... (Score:1)
Well, since MSFT wants to provide the OS for onboard electronics, soon you'll get a Red Screen of Death
Re:Rebooting the car... (Score:5, Interesting)
Re:Rebooting the car... (Score:2)
Sitting in an A320 at Stuttgart last summer, wondering why it isn't going anywhere. Eventually they tell us that one of the thrust reversers didn't deploy on landing, and they're trying to persuade the computer to open both of them at the same time.
After an hour and a half of this, the captain tells us that they're "just going to try rebooting the aeroplane". You should have seen some of the passengers' faces, especially when all the cabin lights went off and the air conditioning fell silent... :)
(In the
Funny, the same thing happened... (Score:5, Funny)
Re:Funny, the same thing happened... (Score:1)
KITT (Score:5, Funny)
If he ever got sick it would have been that he was just sick of having David Hasselhoff hanging around all the time.
Re:KITT (Score:2)
KITT had two very hot "doctors" dedicated to keeping him well and in shape. Remember Bonnie and April [imdb.com]?
Re:KITT (Score:2)
No. Luckily, Mr. T and the A-Team eliminated all of the viruses between 8 & 8:29. Knight Rider wasn't on until 8:30.
8PM Thursday night was a very exciting time to be a kid.
I'm not impressed (Score:1)
Toyota should expand its business... (Score:2, Funny)
They have done the impossible: they created a bluetooth system that no virus in existant can infect.
Microsoft, are you listening?
God I think I will feel much safer knowing that my cellphone (and probably my comp's OS) is made by Toyota.
Non-M$ car (Score:2, Funny)
Crashed? (Score:2, Insightful)
The item I liked ... (Score:4, Funny)
Now I'm going to be expecting to hear that Microsoft has adopted this approach (and PHBs are ordering their people to do it)
Not terribly meaningful (Score:4, Interesting)
There must be hundreds of different versions of the car's software that have varying levels of resilience to the virus.
I can't wait to see the follow up
Dumb and dumber... (Score:4, Funny)
Trying to infect Prius with a Symbian "virus" is like trying to infect a tree with a choc chip cookie . Hey I can come up with a better one - it's like trying to infect shampoo with a book on eating disorders (now go picture that in your head for a second).
I won't go into debunking this as I have already done that (http://slashdot.org/comments.pl?sid=137390&cid=1
But this is so sweet - it takes one dumb kid with too much time on their hands and one even dumber kid to moderate at voila! you get slashdot "news".
Don't you love it!
Re:Dumb and dumber... (Score:5, Insightful)
Trying to infect Prius with a Symbian "virus" is like trying to infect a tree with a choc chip cookie . Hey I can come up with a better one - it's like trying to infect shampoo with a book on eating disorders (now go picture that in your head for a second).
A lot of these embedded machines run Java-based software now. If it can run Java it doesn't matter what OS is underneath it. Sure, the JVM and the OS may have differing levels of protection depending on the device, but as I said... Java is the key.
From what I understand (from my limited reading becuase I don't really give a flying fuck... nothing I own has Bluetooth for a very good reason) these cellphone virii rely on the Java compatibility to work.
From the site:
In February we published an official statement from Toyota that Lexus does not use Symbian OS, and thus cannot be infected by any of the Cabir variants.
However a mobile worm infecting a car is a thought that one cannot let go easily, and even as we knew that the car cannot be infected, this was something that just had to be tested for real.
So they already knew it isn't possible to infect the car. That much is clear. Now, Toyota could have lied about the OS it runs, and the car may have been vulnerable. You never know for sure until you try these things.
It was still an interesting experiment because they discovered a few flaws in the Toyota Bluetooth system - the corrupted phone name that froze the display and the flat battery wasn't properly handled by the system.
So, saying this was a stupid experiment is really stupid in itself.
Re:Dumb and dumber... (Score:2)
No, Symian viruses (like Cabir) does not rely on the
Re:Dumb and dumber... (Score:2)
Dumb kid (Score:2)
haha (Score:2)
or an RSOD [slashdot.org]?
Data stream capture (Score:2, Interesting)
They're killing our comedy! (Score:2)
We have laws about this now. (Score:2)
Do you see what happens when you play with your cell phone instead of look at the road?!
Re:Serious Question (Score:5, Informative)
Interesting (Score:2)
Just make sure you get the insurance.
Re:Serious Question (Score:1)
Why did/do people make cars into hotrods?
Because it's there.
Because they can.
Next!
Re:Serious Question (Score:4, Interesting)
Re:Serious Question (Score:1)
That's what these guys are doing. They want to see if the rumors that Bluetooth virii can infect your car's computer are true.
MOD PARENT DOWN (Score:1)
Re:Serious Question (Score:1)
Re:FP! (Score:1, Offtopic)
Re:Next article (Score:1)
No (Score:1)
Re:Interesting... (Score:3, Insightful)