Car hacks seemed like they were appearing out of the woodwork and but General Motors consumers can rest assure that there is a solution to the recently exposed OnStar hack that could locate your vehicle and start your engine.
“On Friday afternoon, GM OnStar announced a software update to its RemoteLink app for iPhone to patch a security vulnerability that could have been used from across the internet to track GM vehicles, unlock their doors, start their ignitions, and even access the car owner’s email and address,” according to Wired.
The company fixed the flaw and completely overhauled their server software according to the report. Another automotive company that showed security flaws on their vehicles was Jeep but the dangers still exist. Now, Consumerists is reporting that Harmon Kardon is being investigated for the Jeep hacks still putting GM ahead of the curve in auto-cyber security.
“Based on our initial conversations with Samy, we made changes that did not require user interaction. In our continued testing and conversations with him yesterday, we confirmed that [fix sufficed] for Android, Windows and Blackberry users but not for Apple iOS users,” wrote GM spokesperson Renee Rashid-Merem in a statement to Wired, according to the article.
“GM takes matters that affect our customers’ safety and security very seriously… An update is now available via Apple’s App Store. Impacted customers will receive a communication from OnStar today and the previous version of the app will be decommissioned following that communication to ensure customer security.”
With added technology in vehicles, these hacks should have been expected but it’s scary to think about the measures of hacks possible. More car hacks will be explored at the BlackHat and DefCon hacker conferences in Las Vegas.
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