The connected car technology being offered in Ford Focus and Volkswagen Polo cars are reported to be filled with security vulnerabilities. Experts say that hackers can easily take control of the systems in these two of the most popular cars in Europe to gain access and control to features such as Tyre pressure and traction control.
Furthermore, the bad guys can take control of these systems and gain access to personal data of owners stored in systems like location share, travel direction, calendar contents, USB storage content, call lists, messages, and contact information.
Which?- a consumer group which is after regulations related to data security has disclosed these details in its recent survey and highlighted the fact that OEMs need to adhere to strict regulations while offering connected car security.
Ford Focus Titanium Automatic 1.0L Petrol and Volkswagen Polo SEL TSI Manual 1.0 L petrol are the two names that have been referred to in the list as samples and the organization says that more company/s models will be added to the list soon.
Now to those who want to safeguard their data in cars from prying eyes- here’s a list of precautions to be followed-
1.) Better wipe off your data before selling the car to another person
2.) Also, make sure that all your data is wiped off from the connected system in the car which you hired from a rental or car club company
3.) Use a password for your Wi-Fi which is unique and is enriched with alpha-numeric characters tucked with 1-2 special characters
4.) Entrust you’re a car to a mechanic or a garage which is authorized to service and which as a qualified mechanic
5.) Make sure that the system is updated with regular security patches
6.) When you buy a used vehicle, please ensure that the previous owner doesn’t track your vehicle in any manner
