But the proliferation of technology outside of usual boundaries means that all sorts of unusual hacking and data theft can take place. One recent example of this is groups of hackers breaking into luxury car systems. The German automaker BMW has recently identified a security flaw within its vehicles which could have enabled hackers to unlock doors up to 2.2 million Rolls-Royce, Mini and BMW vehicles.
This underlines the complexity of modern car systems, and also illustrates the extent to which everyday household items are coming under threat from hackers. This is particularly significant when one considers the potential future technology which will be delivered by the Internet of Things.
This innovation promises everyday household items such as fridge freezers, washing machines and even lightbulbs the opportunity to be connected to the Internet in order to deliver smart functionality. This is an intriguing and potentially extremely convenient prospect, but we must also understand that it will present a security risk as well.
In the case of BMW, the German car giant has thankfully identified the problem and eliminated it. The automaker was also at pains to point out that the security risk could not impede the critical functions of a car such as driving, steering and braking. It is nonetheless alarming for owners of BMW-manufactured vehicles to know that the cars could’ve been broken into due to internal errors in computing and electronic systems.
BMW has claimed that it is not aware of any examples where data has been used to compromise the security of a vehicle. But experts in cybersecurity state that vehicle manufacturers actually have a lot of work to do to ensure that the complicated road cars which people frequently drive today are made safe from such attacks in the future.
Network-connected vehicles can always pose security threats when their internal systems are not satisfactorily robust, and once hackers are able to breach external security in a motor vehicle, they effectively have cart-blanche to access onboard vehicle computer systems. Although BMW claims that this particular issue cannot affect any key driving elements of the vehicle, it is nonetheless alarming to know that security flaws could potentially interfere with these critical elements.
Here at Technetics Data Recovery, we have experienced a recent spike in storage media being submitted due to encryption attacks. We encourage all of our customers to be vigilant of suspicious activity as technology continues to shift to interconnectivity between devices and the internet. This process will only magnify in the near future, and it is essential that you are aware of all the risks, and take action to eliminate them.
For information on how to keep your data safe from online threats, call us on 1300 880 636.
