Consumer

Podcast: Interview with Car Hacker Chris Valasek of IOActive

In-brief: Security Ledger Editor in Chief Paul Roberts speaks with Chris Valasek, the Director of Vehicle Research at IOActive about the work he and Charlie Miller did to develop wireless based attacks that control the braking, steering and acceleration of late model Chrysler vehicles. 

Fiat Chrysler Recalls 1.4m Vehicles to Patch Wireless Vulnerability

In-brief: Fiat Chrysler is recalling 1.4 million vehicles to fix a software flaw that leaves the cars vulnerable to wireless hacks that could affect braking, steering and acceleration.

Updated: Nothing But Scary: Wireless Hacks Disable Car on Interstate

In-brief: Researchers Chris Valasek and Charlie Miller are demonstrating wireless attacks on connected vehicles that can alter critical functions like braking and acceleration. (Added comments from Chris Valasek July 21, 2015 12:15 ET)

Opinion: The IoT’s Wild West is Your Home Network

In-brief: Jackson Shaw of Dell warns that home networks are like the Wild West frontier when it comes to threats to the Internet of Things. Your broadband router is the covered wagon. 

AV-Test.org Finds Popular Fitness Trackers Lack Security

Av-Test.org, an organization known for its thorough and independent testing of antivirus products, has found the usual suspects of lack of authentication and encryption — security lapses that are all too common in IoT devices — present in popular fitness bands. Av-Test.org, an organization known for its thorough and independent testing of antivirus products, has found the usual suspects of lack of authentication and encryption—security lapses that are all too common in IoT devices—are also present in popular fitness bands such as those from Fitbit and Acer. While the Jawbone UP24, Polar Loop and Sony Smartband Talk SWR32 scored the best security of those products tested. The researchers admit that counting steps or number of calories burned may not constitute a leak of PII, but acknowledge that in the future that may be different, with manipulation and/or data theft leading to more or less serious threats to user privacy and […]