Computers Aren't the Only Machines Hackers Can Access

Computer viruses are a major pain for almost all PC users. The hackers creating these viruses waste time, cost users hundreds to thousands of dollars in computer repairs or replacement costs and can even steal financial data and identities with spyware. However, it does not stop there. Hackers can pretty much hack any computer system, and today many important machines and devices besides traditional PCs contain mini computers that are critical to their operation. This list includes but is not limited to cars, medical devices and home-security systems.

Hacking Vehicles

Most cars today have many electronic parts and at least one computer system that controls both critical and luxury operations of the vehicle. In 2009, researchers from the National Academy of Science's Committee on Electronic Vehicle Controls and Unintended Acceleration decided to brainstorm and test every method they could think of for hacking a car from the outside. Their conclusions are interesting and alarming.

The first idea the researchers had was to give a car owner a new CD with a Trojan virus burned onto it. Once the car owner inserted and played the CD, the Trojan would alter the automotive computer system's firmware, giving would-be hackers an entry point into the system. Depending on how digitally wired a vehicle is, this access point could give hackers the opportunity to remotely control the car's dashboard, door locks and even its brakes! The researchers also found that they could hack into safety and navigational-assistance services like GM's OnStar as another method to essentially gain control of a vehicle.

Although hacking cars sounds like something from a movie, it is possible for hackers to take control of a vehicle, with potentially life-threatening consequences. However, it's important to remember that the hacks mentioned above took 10 highly educated researchers two years to formulate, so car hacks are not something you can expect to see your average hacker perform today. However, in the future, as car-manufacturing trends become increasingly computer based, hackers could pose a real threat to vehicle owners.

Hacking Medical Devices

Very recently, an engineer and Type-1 diabetic named Jay Radcliffe presented his findings on hacking insulin pumps. For convenience, modern insulin pumps communicate patients' glucose level readings to their care provider via a radio signal. Radcliffe discovered that the manufacturer of one type of insulin pump uses an open-source Java application with which anyone can reconfigure the pump. Radcliffe was able to reverse engineer the pump and found there were no security checks or encryption layers between the Java application and the device. This is akin to a giant hole that would allow hackers with the wrong intentions to gain control of the insulin pump. Once hackers gain control, they could forge fake insulin readings, change settings and turn the machine on and off.

Hacking Home Security Systems

Home-security systems are essentially sophisticated computer systems that are connected to physical aspects of your home. Hackers can theoretically gain access to home-security systems since they operate over unencrypted Ethernet networks that run off existing power lines. Two independent security experts recently proclaimed that none of the major home-security companies take any precautions to encrypt or protect the computer systems behind their home-security products.

In theory, hackers could easily gain control of a home-security system, sound false alarms and view video surveillance footage. Thieves could use this information to scope out when families are not home so that they could more easily burglarize residences.

While there is plenty of anti-virus software for PCs, there is none for any cars, medical devices or home-security systems. However, as more devices become increasingly dependent on computers, there very well could be anti-virus software for many machines in the near future.

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