BlackBerry software glitch exposes 200 million cars to hackers
Vehicle software could allow hackers to gain control of certain key functions of older Ford, BMW and Volkswagen carsSmartphone-maker turned software provider, BlackBerry, has accidentally left more than two hundred million cars vulnerable to hackers after a fatal flaw was found in the operating system it supplied to Ford, Volkswagen and BMW.
Unearthed by Politico, the same glitch is said to affect both critical hospital systems and factories running the still widely used QNX operating system.
According to experts, a certain vulnerability within the OS allows hackers to cripple the devices that use it.
Reports suggest that car-makers' use QNX for many critical functions, including those governing Advanced Driver Assistance Systems (ADAS) – which suggests serious consequences for any vehicles that are successfully hacked.
The good news is the systems impacted by the security flaw do not affect any vehicles with current or recent versions of the software and, according to reports, only impacts those built in 2012 and earlier.
BlackBerry has published an alert about the vulnerability and also said no customers have reported any vehicles being successfully hacked using the glitch.
The US Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) has confirmed it is investigating the Canadian tech giant over accusations that the software is compromised and "could result in a malicious actor gaining control of highly sensitive systems”.
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