Black Hat USA 2015: The full story of how that Jeep was hacked
The sad thing for me, and I see this way too often, is that someone, somewhere, no doubt said "Of course its secure, you can only READ the CANbus, the software doesn't even HAVE a write capability!" and everyone in the room nodded and went on with the rest of the review.<p>Manufacturers and engineers have to get it through their head that <i>IF</i> you can change the firmware <i>ANYONE</i> can change the firmware. If the firmware is SECURITY CRITICAL then the only way to change it can be through physical presence, loading encrypted and and signed firmware, with external validation. (something like the car asking for a third party to authenticate the operation ala nuclear launch codes). You can still get screwed but it will be hard enough to do that otherwise low value targets will remain relatively safe.