On 9/27/2015 2:15 PM, Uncle Monster wrote:

Well hell, the only vehicles left running after the coming EMP attack will
be diesels with the simple mechanical fuel delivery and engine controls.

I don;t worry about an EMP -- I suspect I will have more pressing
concerns in that case than worrying about a vehicle!

The problem with the architecture of many car control systems is
they don't physically (or even logically) partition subsystems
so that a compromise of one can't compromise the others!

E.g., most "hacks" access the car's control infrastructure
through the entertainment/navigation systems -- things that
should have no reason for *talking* to the brakes, engine
controls, steering, etc. Yet, because this wasn't accurately
considered as a potential attack surface during the design,
there are no/few precautions to protect against such attacks
after the fact.

This is the sort of naive thinking (full of unspoken ASSUMPTIONS)
that leads to big-time problems down the road.

By way of a different, though similar, example, most businesses
employ firewalls to "keep intruders out". They block INBOUND
connections to the machines *inside* their firewall.

But, they ignore the fact that a machine *inside* the firewall
can (typically) initiate a connection to damn near any other
machine *outside* the firewall. And, once that connection is
(intentionally) established -- by malware -- the inside machine
is now *past* the firewall yet under the control of some outside
entity.

Ooops!