Feb. 26, 2016—Nissan Motor Co. was forced to disable a mobile app for its Leaf electric car due to safety concerns about remote accessibility.
Troy Hunt, a security researcher, was able to hack into a friend’s Leaf car and access information for the vehicle’s climate control and battery status. During the demonstration, Hunt was in Norway while the car was located in the UK. Hunt revealed that the only piece of information required to compromise the application’s programming was the vehicle’s identification number, visible through the windshield.
This is not the first time concerns have been raised over hacking threats with connected cars. Ratchet+Wrench reported in October 2015 about a Jeep Cherokee that was hacked for a demonstration and the implications that this could have for the consumer.
