Connected vehicles can be at risk of hacking, consumer awareness paramount: experts

Blasting the heat with a remote sensor before you even get into your vehicle on a brisk winter morning is a welcome convenience. So are the comforts of lane assistance, voice command, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi. But experts warn modern, connected vehicles, which are heavily packed with microchips and sophisticated software, can offer an open door to hackers.

Blasting the heat with a remote sensor before you even get into your vehicle on a brisk winter morning is a welcome convenience. So are the comforts of lane assistance, voice command, Bluetooth and Wi-Fi.

But experts warn modern, connected vehicles, which are heavily packed with microchips and sophisticated software, can offer an open door to hackers.

These cars are vulnerable to hackers stealing sensitive information or even manipulating systems such as steering wheels and brakes, said Robert Falzon, head of engineering for Markham, Ont.-based cybersecurity solutions company Checkpoint Canada.

"Cars are tracking how fast you're going, where you're going, what your altitude is -- and all the different pieces of information are being calculated ... It's all computerized," he said.

"Unfortunately, security is not always the primary thought when these (features) are developed."

A global automotive cybersecurity report by Upstream shows remote attacks -- which rely on Wi-Fi, Bluetooth and connected networks -- have consistently outnumbered physical attacks, accounting for 85 per cent of all breaches between 2010 and 2021.

That proportion grew to 97 per cent of all attacks in 2022, the report said.