Charlie Miller is a “security researcher” who gained notoriety for his wireless hacking of a Cherokee Jeep from a distant laptop. The disabling of the car was chronicled in Wired. The 42-year-old Miller, who lives in Wildwood, is optimistic about what technology can do for cars, even as he is avidly trying to find the gaps in security, as he advises car companies.
As cars become more dependent on computers, what are doing to try to prevent some of the risks involved to this trend?
As you add more technology to vehicles, they become more complex and vulnerable to attack. We showed we could hack into that Jeep and crash it, but I think many of the features they are adding to cars make them safer. Some of the features in that Jeep included a lane-assist feature that will keep you in your lane if you are not paying attention; if you are about to have an accident, one feature will apply the brakes for you. These kinds of automated-driving features are susceptible to attack, but I think on average they will save you way more than you’ll have to worry about someone attacking you.
Isn’t it quicker to introduce a tech innovation than it is to devise a safeguard to protect it?
Car companies—all companies—are trying to rush products out the door and make money. Making something secure is hard and expensive. It goes against the idea of trying to hurry up. All companies have that issue. What complicates it for car companies is that if you’re programming software, you can quickly make a change. But if you design something for a car, they design cars years in advance—right now, they are probably designing 2019 vehicles. There is a long time between design and production. It is so long for cars, it makes it really difficult to do anything, much less provide security.
Has the advent of wireless technology made security more difficult?
Before they added wireless to cars, it didn’t really matter. Once you give cars web browsers, once cars are connected to the Internet, security becomes a real issue. That was the underlying issue for the Jeep; you could scan the Internet, find these vulnerable vehicles, and attack them.
Wouldn’t someone have to have a weird motive to hack a car?
Yeah, it’s not clear why someone would do that. Most cyber security is about criminals trying to make money. It’s not clear how you’d make money by hacking a car. I certainly didn’t make any. That hopefully will slow down the attacks. I would prefer to have vehicles more secure, so you wouldn’t worry about it.
Do you have concerns about cars that drive themselves?
I think these features where a computer is controlling the car in some manner probably, in general, are going to make the car safer. If you look around when you’re driving and see all of the terrible drivers on the road, I would love to have them replaced by computers.
How about computers making traffic lights more synchronized or cameras seeing oncoming traffic jams?
In the future, there is a lot of talk about cars communicating with infrastructure or with each other. One car can detect traffic or an accident, and it can alert other cars behind it to start slowing down. These are all things in the works that will have security implications, but in the end they’ll all make us safer.
What did you think about the Volkswagen scandal about tampering with emission-control detectors?
I was surprised. I always knew it was software and you could cheat if you wanted, but I always told myself the reason they don’t cheat is because they have this reputation. But I was wrong. They did cheat. It’s pretty amazing they did that.
Five or 10 years down the road, what will the net effect of technology be on cars and transportation?
I hope I will be able to get in my car, it will drive me places, and it will be safe. I have a feeling when I talk to my grandkids, they’re going to be like, "I can’t believe you used to drive a car. That’s so dangerous. How could you do that?" The computers are going to get so good at driving cars, it will be dangerous to have people involved. That’s what I hope happens.
You don’t have any major concerns about this trend of technology playing a greater role in cars and transportation in general?
Like anything, you can do it in a smart and secure way or fly into it and have problems. You can certainly make secure vehicles, or you can screw it up. That is why we wanted to get involved early. There haven’t been any real attacks on cars, so we wanted to get manufacturers thinking about security before there are attacks, to get in front of the problem.
