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My point is that we're used to thinking of computer security as being an absolute necessity because, for example, it is of value to a bad guy to simply take control of a network-connected computer to become part of a botnet. Or to use it to obtain valuable personal data which passes through the computer. But I think that leads us to overestimate the risk created by the possibility that hacker activity could extend to the physical realm, because if a hacker crosses that line, it has consequences.

My car's infotainment system doesn't know my credit card number. It probably makes a pretty poor botnet member (but even if someone does hack it and turn it to churning out spam they're not going to be trying to get to the CAN bus). And there's little value to a badguy in just breaking my car for no reason. If someone just wants to break cars and hurt people, they can go throw rocks off an overpass. People do do that, admittedly, but they're not revealing an engineering flaw in cars by doing so.

If you can use this hack to pop the door locks and override the ignition, then maybe we should be talking.




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