Could Hackers Take Over Your Car?

In a well-publicized experiment, hackers were able turn up the radio, blast cold air through the vents and activate the wiper-washers, for starters. Then they got to the brakes, accelerator and transmission, and sent the car into a ditch – all remotely, from a laptop miles away. But then a critic took a close look and pointed out that as part of the experiment, the hackers had physical access to the car for months. A post in Information Age concludes that the potential for the scare scenarios is overrated. The biggest hack threat for now appears to be an updated version of what wayward young men with metal tools and bent coat hangers did for most of the last century: break into your car, ransack it, or drive it away.