This is one of the main reasons a computer controlled car is a BAD idea, imagine having total control of your car taken away from you because somone has hacked into the systems...the results could be catastrophic...

This is a scare story for the technically uninitiated. In order to \"Hack\" an automotive system you have to have physical access. That means you have to be in the car with your computer hooked up to the diagnostic port. While some prankster could break into your car and wreck the ecu programming, it isn\'t going to happen as you are driving down the street as many would assume from the headline. The first key to computer security is controlling physical access. No system, regardless of how it is configured is safe if the hacker can gain physical access to the computer.
So don\'t worry, your Honda is safe.

I\'m confused. The lead paragraph suggests that they can control a car remotely, implying they can do that to any car at will.
The article states they modified the car to accomplish this. \"The track test car had a laptop connected to the CAN bus via the OBD-II port which allowed a chase vehicle\'s laptop to wirelessly control in-car systems.\"
Sort of like breaking into a house, rewiring the security system, then claiming you can control any house\'s security system. Or network.

This looks like a traffic cop\'s dream. Also how long before the government is able to track everybody\'s movements?

John Carpenter\'s \"Christine\" Uh, it was Stephen King\'s, Christine!
This is most telling: \"a large fraction of the random packets we sent resulted in changes to the state of our car.\"
Makes you say Hmmmmm.

There already are small diagnostic devices that plug onto the OBD-II connector in a car and wirelessly transmit data by Bluetooth radio.
Not such a leap from there for hackers to build a similar device able to receive commands and take control of various functions of today\'s over-computerized cars.
Physical access to the interior of the vehicle would be required to install the device, which would only take a few seconds. The connector is supposed to be located within a foot of the center of the dash, on the driver\'s side. Some cars (mostly Chryslers) ignore the location rule and put the connector out next to the door.
In any case the connector is often tucked underneath the bottom of the dash, often with a removable panel to conceal it. Those wireless diagnostic devices are small enough to for most of the cover panels to be installed over them.
A driver would have to know where the OBD II connector is located then get down low and look for it to see if there\'s anything plugged in. Not something you could notice just getting in a car normally, especially on newer models. Some earlier ones, where adherence to the plug location rules was less lax, the connector could be seen peeking out at the bottom edge of the dash.
So if you\'re paranoid and drive a car with lots of computer controlled functions, find out where the diagnostic plug is and check to make sure nothing is plugged into it.
\'Course the really determined assassins will hide their remote control hack by splicing into the wires behind the diagnostic plug... ;) But the simple \"plug and hax0r\" module would be easy to remove undetected at the scene of a crash where a hard wired version would be rather obvious to any investigator looking for such.
But in any case what is NOT possible (yet) is remote control of all functions as seen in movies like \"After the Sunset\", because the two way wireless communication and other required hardware is not built into any production vehicle.

@r4990: Oh, I don\'t know. A hacker gaining access to a computer with a 512-bit encrypted Raid 0 1 array seems like it would still be very secure without the decryption algorithm if it was to say, be stored on a USB drive.

this hacking not fully true. obdii protocols very changes car by car. can bus systems only listeening solution and car configuration not simply.

We are OWN ur systems! Now I wonder if Toyota was sabotaged for profit? OK, here goes another conspiracy theory!

Hey r4990! You don\'t have to have physical access. Ever heard of \"Onstar\"??