I hope Glenn has also thought about what should happen if he has a sudden car accident.
http://www.theblaze.com/stories/2013/06/21/email-sent-by-mic...
No, that car hit that tree. It wasn't dropped off by a flatbed truck or something. And yes, cars can catch fire during high-speed collisions.
Not to toot my own horn, but... https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=5936521
"Bush advisor: Hastings crash ‘consistent with a car cyberattack’"
So you think chicken sabotage is a possibility then?
The TPMS systems do not use Wifi, nor do they generally transmit in the 2.4 GHz band. The system from the paper you mention sits at 315 MHz.
The paper is available here: http://www.winlab.rutgers.edu/~Gruteser/papers/xu_tpms10.pdf
His counter-terror position was a holdover from the Clinton administration, and he eventually left the Bush administration on very bitter terms; I've seen the term "character assassination" used to describe the way he was treated by the administration on numerous ocassions.
"His friends and family that know him, everyone says he drives like a grandma, so that right there doesn't seem like something he'd be doing, there's no way that he'd be acting erratic like that and driving out of control"
I'm not saying this is true; just that it is what people are speculating. Frankly I don't know whether or not it's possible to remotely take over that particular car's steering/acceleration mechanisms.
[1] - http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-ca...
According to this article [1], Hastings describes himself as a "a recovering drunk/addict/screw-up." In another True/Slant piece, he says, "I have smoked crack." He crashed a car in a drunk-driving accident at 19.
It's funny how geeks, who pride themselves on rationality, throw Occam's Razor out the window at the drop of a hat.
[1] http://www.breitbart.com/Big-Journalism/2013/06/21/LA-Weekly...
I know a guy with at least a dozen cars, including a McLaren F1, drives way more cautiously than most grandmothers I know.
(I used to have a 3,500 lb. coupe, a Pontiac GTO. Now that was fast. It had a 400 HP V8.)
And P.S. Occam's Razor is just a guide line. Many things happen every day that violate it. The US government has murdered people before and tried to cover it up, so it's not beyond the realm of believably or possibility.
Also, interview with an eyewitness: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fweyFCFKcp0
Richard Clarke says it's possible: http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/06/24/michael-hastings-ca...
However, steering and brakes are mechanical systems in Hastings' 2013 Mercedes C250 (like almost every other car), and cannot be electronically overridden. The steering wheel is connected directly to the wheels, and can't be controlled by the electronics. Electronics can activate the brakes, but can't cause the brakes to not activate because the pedal is connected hydraulically to the calipers. Even if the engine is racing, braking force is greater than the engine's force. [2]
If his car was vulnerable, all-electronic attack doesn't seem like a good way to assassinate someone if they can simply step on the brakes to stop the car. Changing the mechanics to allow remote control might be possible, but that's a lot of physical evidence to add to the car.
[1] http://www.autosec.org/pubs/cars-usenixsec2011.pdf [2] http://www.keacher.com/672/title-fight-brakes-versus-engine/
http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/tech/can-science-stop-crime.htm...
Quite a nice segment.
Everything in newer model cars is connected to the CAN bus (basically a broadcast serial protocol), radio, airbags, brakes, etc.
Your XM Satellite Radio could in theory detect that you are traveling over 70 mph and trigger just the right front brake cylinder. Any time you detect braking on other wheels, fire one of the 9 drivers side airbags to disrupt the operator.
http://www4.mercedes-benz.com/manual-cars/ba/cars/w166/en/ov...
In his particular case, an attacker would require Hastings to be traveling at a high rate of speed to have a high probability of a fatal injury. Highland Ave is a 35 mph surface street. So the attacker would either need to speed the car up, or have him already traveling at a high rate of speed. If it's the former, Hastings could have just used the brakes. If it's the latter, there are lots of reasons why he could crash on a two-lane city street lined with trees and parked cars at 4 am. As you point out, it's possible a sophisticated attack could have also provided all kinds of distractions to prevent him from braking effectively.
I think the most likely explanation was that he was speeding and lost control, but feel free to disagree.
You are dismissing it as unlikely, because you keep assuming that some subsystems would work as designed or intended.
I'm not comfortable discussing details on this point, but "just use the brakes" might not have been an option had the malicious payload been properly designed. I have maybe a basic to mid level of experience reverse engineering automotive firmware, and it would not be hard for me to pull off. God only knows what a state actor could come up with.
Thanks.
If you want to just hack around on CAN bus, check this project out: http://www.gadgetgangster.com/news/54/556
To get at actual firmware, you'll want to identify the ROM chips and wire up an appropriate reader. You might be able to get by with a bus pirate. Once you have the actual firmware, you should be able to identify the processor (get ready to learn old obscure Motorola instruction sets) and you're off to the races. If you luck out with an x86 or ARM processor I highly recommend the Hex Rays Decompiler.
I was working as a generalist on the team, so the HN expert collective may be able to give you better pointers on specific items.
right, because ABS does not work by pulsating the pads off and back on...
What I would do if it was a spy movie:
1. plant bomb underneath.
maybe just a small (hard to find) fuse in the gas tank.
make it activated by airbag sensors.
2. hijack car electronics
3. when target is inside, locks door.
accelerate and mess with brakes
4. he can turn as he wish. by the time he realizes what's going on,
all he can do is try to avoid a high speed crash by then.
5. with doors still locked, car crash and goes boom,
just like they do in hollywood.
So ABS can fully cut off brake pressure? My understanding is that it relieves extra pressure and that regardless of the valve position, either full force of the pedal (including locking the brakes) or reduced relieved pressure is still sufficient to stop a vehicle.
> What I would do if it was a spy movie
All posible. My comment was really just a response to Richard Clarke's comment that it could have been an "untraceable" "car cyberattack."
about ABS brakes (and thus absence of direct mechanical control by the driver) other people have already explained. The speed is controlled by electronic throttle control. Mercedes was among the first and brought drive-by-wire decade ago.
>The steering wheel is connected directly to the wheels, and can't be controlled by the electronics.
ever heard about electric assist steering? Mercedes does have it on the C250.
And btw, the modern cars don't explode. Poor Mercedes when guys like this will come into play http://www.usautoinjurylaw.com/types-of-accidents/explosions...
The reputation and perception is half the price of a Mercedes and this accident makes a dent in it (on the related topic - how much Toyota suffered for a runaway acceleration).
Correct me if I'm wrong: ABS doesn't cut off pressure to the brakes but instead relieves extra pressure. At no point can the ABS module ever fully cut off brake pressure that's being hydraulically applied by the driver. Incorrect?
> electronic throttle control
Yes, but my point was that regardless of what the throttle was doing, brakes can counter. If he was alert, he should have had reasonable time to start braking as the throttle opened up.
> ever heard about electric assist steering? Mercedes does have it on the C250.
Thanks -- this is a good catch.
> And btw, the modern cars don't explode
Agreed.
if relief valves are kept open (instead of open/close/open/close/... like during normal ABS operation) i don't think there will be any effective braking force.
Instead, they've wisely chosen the strategy of trying to discredit him.
The fact that others have the same info means that it makes a lot of sense.
Not a lot of people have the backbone to carry on after someone has been made an example. And those that do, well, they can also be made examples.
There is a certain safety in numbers too, if you are one of dozens of people in possession of the key, if you have a little backbone you can leak the key and be reasonably confident that they are not going to kill several dozen people purely out of a sense of revenge.
This is why Glenn is so keen on pointing out that he is not the only person with the data/key.