Via Slashdot comes the latest word in your vehicle’s vulnerability to hackers: Tire Pressure Monitoring Systems. According to Goodgearguide.com, researchers from Rutgers and the University of South Carolina have found that wireless communications between tire-mounted sensors and and on-board computers can be intercepted by hackers, resulting in the ability to track your movements. According to researchers,
If the sensor IDs were captured at roadside tracking points and stored in databases, third parties could infer or prove that the driver has visited potentially sensitive locations such as medical clinics, political meetings, or nightclubs… Such messages could also be forged. An attacker could flood the control unit with low pressure readings that would repeatedly set off the warning light, causing the driver to lose confidence in the sensor readings, the researchers contend. An attacker could also send nonsensical messages to the control unit, confusing or possibly even breaking the unit.
Researchers note that such attacks would be expensive and complicated to pull off, but that even a simple encryption algorithm would shut this latest window of opportunity for hacker attacks. Says Wenyuan Xu of the University of South Carolina
If no one mentions [such flaws], then they won’t bother with security… The consumer may be willing to pay few dollars to make their autos secure
I see a booming business for anti-virus and malware software companies getting into vehicle computer systems. Hackers too. Another cat-and-mouse game is afoot.
Twotone
Indeed any unsecured wireless LAN on a vehicle could be susceptible.
I suppose the government could mandate that they have decription keys “just in case” they are needed. Maybe sneak it into a healthcare or financial overhaul bill that “we need to pass in order to see its contents”.
Or you could “retro-fit” the TPMS. I’ve got one I call, “Long Acre in the arm rest”…it comes out every few gas fills and seems to work just fine. Hard to hack into springs n gauge dials :-)
It’s possible to monitor and log bluetooth ids while on the road – and other places. Who needs TPMS. It’s interesting what you pick up. Many vehicles have their own unique little signature. Sometimes you pick up the vehicles number, sometimes it’s the drivers cell phone or headset. Sometimes all of the above. You can usually identify the make of the car by the id.
“The TPMS light is on what should i do!?”. Okay, have you checked the tyre pressures? “No”. Do the tires look normal? “I haven’t looked”. Okay if they don’t look deflated just drive to the closest gas station and check the tyre pressures. “How do i do that?”.
Better than the alternative though, i suppose. Which is to wonder why the mudflaps have scraped the ground at every little bump for the last week.
Or “The engine warning light is on, can i drive my car?” Does the car sound and feel normal? “No there is no power and the engine has made a horrible clattering noise for the last 20 kms and some red oil-light is also on, but i wanted to drive home”
Or “OH MY GOD i accidentally put petrol in the washer fluid and then panicked and sucked out the coolant with a cloth will it explode!?!”
Or, here’s a thought, maybe we would prefer that the government not require us to have expensive pointless gadgets installed on our vehicles. I can check the air pressure in my tires just fine thank you, and if you don’t know how to, you shouldn’t be driving.
Well said.
and if you don’t know how to, you shouldn’t be driving.
Here is a thought – how about we deal with the real world rather than your fantasy world. Here in the real world people are idiots and we need to deal with that.
If a A380 or 747 needs to go “Woop Wopp!! Too Low Gear!!!” because highly trained fromer Navy and Air Force pilots sometimes forget to put the gear down – how much can you really expect out of the median driver?
No one has mentioned the real culprit. Firestone did not object to Ford recommending 26 psi on Explorers to improve the ride. Catastrophic tire failure. Rollovers. Deaths. District of Control to the rescue. Require TPMS on all vehicles.
I can check the air pressure in my tires just fine thank you, and if you don’t know how to, you shouldn’t be driving.
The problem is not knowing how, it’s actually doing it. Does anyone really check their tire pressure at every gas up like they “should”?
Monitoring something that, if left unchecked, could cause a catastrophic accident should be a no-brainer. The problem with TPMS is in the cost and implementation, which will certainly get better over time. I have no idea why people are against the very idea of it. Are you against low fuel warnings? Or low battery messages on your laptop?
I agree.. I keep a preasure guage in both cars. My Impala has a TPMS, I ignore it. My wife has a GPS in her Jimmy I ignore that thing to, but I can read a road map. I also lift my hood once or twice a week and have a peek at everything.
I know I sound like an old guy {I am} but isn’t being aware of your vehicle part parcel of being a driver?
“I have no idea why people are against the very idea of it. Are you against low fuel warnings? Or low battery messages on your laptop?”
I think “idiot lights” ought to be optional. The government requires tire pressure monitors on all new cars. To possibly save a very few people from accidents, we all have to pay the expense. The cost/benefit seems way out of whack.
The cost/benefit seems way out of whack.
So, you’ve done he cost/benefit including both accidents and increased fuel consumption and you’ve reached a diffent conclusion from the gov’t? Wow – can you please publish your work. The public must be made away this new information!
“Wow – can you please publish your work.”
I don’t need to. There is plenty of information out there about this. Including the government’s own information.
What do we know about this? There MAY have been some accidents caused by low tire pressure. There MAY be some fuel efficiency gains that come from maintaining better tire pressure.
Trouble is, no one has been able to point to any concrete evidence that would support a requirement that this expensive and immature technology be installed on all new cars. In fact, on the fuel efficiency topic, studies designed to quantify the advantage of properly inflated tires have found that there is no measurable advantage.
Government bureaucrats who have nothing to lose by new regulations, and in fact who gain by imposing them, have (in my opinion) gone overboard on this one. Just like the Iraq war. We invade a country because they have weapons that violate international conventions. Except that they don’t have them. Oops.
A few years ago I worked at 7-11 while in school. I had a middle age woman pay me $20 to fill up her tires with air because she didn’t know how.
@ jmo:
Here is a thought – how about we deal with the real world rather than your fantasy world. Here in the real world people are idiots and we need to deal with that.
If a A380 or 747 needs to go “Woop Wopp!! Too Low Gear!!!” because highly trained fromer Navy and Air Force pilots sometimes forget to put the gear down – how much can you really expect out of the median driver?
Your analogy blows.
There’s a major difference between warning for catastrophic failures versus minor maintenance issues.
Sensor overload IS a problem. The more you idiot proof a vehicle, with multitudes of blinking warnings and alerts, the more people ignore them. These were once called ‘idiot lights’.
Sorry JMO, I’m one of those head in the clouds idealists who believes in personal responsibility. If I or you feel the need for TPMS then by all means make that a criteria in your search for a car. However, just because you feel the need for TPMS don’t assume that I’m also an idiot (to use your own terminology) who can’t or won’t check the air pressure in my tires every couple of weeks. You may call me a dreamer if you like.
Your analogy of driving a car and piloting a plane falls apart on two levels. First driving a car is nowhere near as complicated as flying a plane. Second, I can have low tire pressure and not die despite TV reports to the contrary. Problems with a plane generally don’t have happy endings.
Sometimes one can blow something out of proportion. Even if you are the most fastidious with your maintenance and you don’t need no stink’n gov’t know-it-all to tell you to check your tires (its your rubber and gas you are wasting), you can pick up a nail and have a slow leak that trashes your tire. Last Michelin I bought cost $200…I wouldn’t mind an “idiot” light informing me that my purchase is about to be destroyed, or that I will be changing a tire in the rain on the side of the road…this is kind of like hating an idea because you hate the guy who came up with it. Even Libertarians can run over debris on the road…
The interesting bit here is the ability to track a unique vehicle. The false alarm problem is something that a hacker should have little interest in unless there is something to gain by doing it.
As they stated in the article, tracking would be expensive, you would need sensors where ever you wanted to track the vehicle. Easier just to attach a GPS enabled transponder to the vehicle.
If the sensor IDs were captured at roadside tracking points and stored in databases, third parties could infer or prove that the driver has visited potentially sensitive locations such as medical clinics, political meetings, or nightclubs…
Here in Boston the cops drive around with License Plate scanners looking for people with warrants, expired registrations, etc. Since this technology already exsists – why bother trying to read the tire monitors when you can just scan the license plate?
Sponsored by Reynold’s Wrap….the official tin foil hat supplier of TTAC readers
Old news….I think I saw Jack Bauer hack into a TPMS in season three, hour 7 with his wristwatch.
Whats next? Do I need antivirus software for my pedometer that downloads info to my computer?
I once solved a check engine light problem with a piece of electrician’s tape.
The TPMS is a real nuisance. Did you know that low pressure in your spare* will set them off.
Or at least it will on a 2007 RAV4.
TPMS on just the spare makes a lot more sense. I have been guilty of letting the spare get a little low, but as others have mentioned, if you can’t check your pressure, you shouldnt be driving. It adds needless expense when buying new tires, and on some cars is a PITA to reset.
Does TPMS go off from overpressure too ?
It can, or did on a new Skoda Octavía at least. 2.8 bar in all tyres and the light came on. It had been driven for some time after the service where they were filled though so it may just have been an error as the light did not turn off after letting some air out. nto exactly the most reliable things these sensors.
Maybe the tire companies will hack into the TPMS systems to make them always indicate “OK”. Why hack just for fun, when you can do it for money?
–end conspiracy theory–