Hackers and Eavesdropping – How Secure do you feel with your in-vehicle safety and security systems like onstar car?

EYE see You says onstar car

How many people are inside your automobile when you are driving? Are you alone inside your car? Are you sure? How would you feel knowing that at any given time an unseen passenger could be present inside with you, listening, eavesdropping, tracking everything you do and say?

Today’s sophisticated in-vehicle safety and security systems, such as OnStar in Car Communications, Tele Aid, Assist, and On Call Plus, along with car alarm remote starters, car security systems, can do a lot more than assist drivers with directions or locating fuel as when GM first pioneered it back in 1997.

Using a combination of global positioning satellite and cell phone technology, today’s systems can track stolen cars and eavesdrop on the thieves inside. Some can shut down the engine, slow the vehicle. Others let owners track vehicles via the Internet.

Mercedes’ Tele Aid system helped track a carjacker in the Washington, D.C.,

The carjacker pulled a woman out of her sport-utility vehicle and took off with her two children strapped in child seats in the back. Another Mercedes owner happened to see the incident and let the woman use his system to notify Tele Aid operators, says Mercedes spokesman Fred Heiler.

Using GPS, the operators helped police track the vehicle. And because Tele Aid, like the other systems, uses cell phone technology, the operators were able to hear inside the vehicle and determine that the children — 3 and 18 months — were all right.

Looking at privacy policies (though many were vague at best) of many of these we found where they do mention they can listen inside, but not to worry, you will see some funny flashing lights, hear beeping sounds, your radio volume will go down etc… so you will know without doubt we are there, HUH?

Company X does not listen to or monitor conversations in your car without notice to you.

It is not possible for Company X to listen to or monitor conversations in your car without notice to you. When an advisor calls into your car, the following will occur:

a light flashes;
there is a ring;
the radio mutes.

Company X intentionally developed this functionality so that our advisors cannot override it. In addition, calls through the Company X system are normally audible through stereo speakers, and cars programmed with text display capabilities will show an indicator of a connection to Company X on the driver’s instrument panel. Moreover, Company X policy requires advisors to announce their presence immediately upon establishing a call into your car.

Then how is possible to eavesdrop on a car thief?

They also warn owners “Please note that it is your responsibility to advise all occupants of your car (including other drivers) how information about them may be collected, used, or disclosed”

What info could they possibly want from friends and family? Well let’s take a look at some of the things they collect.

The types of information they may collect about you include:

Your contact information (name, address, telephone number, email address, language preference and whether you are a TTY user);
billing information (including your credit card number);
information about the purchase or lease of your car, such as the vehicle identification number (VIN), make, model, year and date of purchase or lease and selling/preferred dealer;
registration information, such as state license plate information and the name and contact information of other drivers of your car and emergency contact information; and
Information that helps us customize our services, such as your use of the company x services.

Ok this info I can except for they would need in order to do their designed function but it doesn’t stop there.

They may also collect the following information from your car:

information about the car’s operation, including such things as diagnostic trouble codes, oil life remaining, tire pressure, fuel economy, odometer readings, and, in specific circumstances, approximate speed data as calculated from GPS data;
information about collisions involving your car, such as safety belt usage, the direction from which your car was hit and which air bags have deployed;
information about your use of the car and its features;
information about when your car’s ignition is turned on or off and when your fuel is refilled, on an anonymized and aggregate basis;
in specific circumstances, the location of your car.

If you use Hands Free Calling minutes, we may collect certain Customer Proprietary Network Information (CPNI). The CPNI that we collect may include call detail records, the number of minutes purchased, the date minutes were purchased, the number of remaining minutes, and their expiration date. We do not share your CPNI information with third parties for their marketing purposes.

Recalling old movies such as Herby the love bug and Christine both talking and thinking cars – how wonderful it would be when the time came that we could converse with our cars. Long before the site, “myspace” use to be my car, a place that was mine, to express myself in style or listen to what I wanted or go where I wanted. Now that the time has come and we really can converse with our cars, I’m starting to think it is more like the evil Christine car.

The in-vehicle safety and security is not to be confused with the black box, the automotive event data recorder (EDR) which some state legislatures have passed some forms of EDR Invasion of Privacy legislation.

Invasion of Privacy

Newer autos of ALL makes are now totally controlled by their on-board computer systems that have remote-control capabilities and two-way communication capabilities that can communicate with systems like onstar car.

Your car may be equipped with Stolen Vehicle Slowdown or Ignition Block capability.

Your car may have Stolen Vehicle Slowdown capability that enables Company X, in connection with Stolen Vehicle Assistance services, to slow down your car remotely to assist law enforcement in its recovery. Company X may also slow down your car if required by law or as required to protect our rights or property or the safety of you or others. If you don’t want Stolen Vehicle Slowdown capability on your car, you must contact Company X by pressing the blue Company X button in your car and requesting that this capability be disabled. If you choose to disable this capability, it will not be available under any circumstances and can only be re-enabled at an authorized car dealership at your expense. <- Deterrent not to disable

Your car may also have Ignition Block capability that enables Company X, in connection with Stolen Vehicle Assistance services, to send a signal to prevent your car from starting the next time that someone attempts to start it. Company X may also disable the ignition of your car if required by law or as required to protect our rights or property or the safety of you or others.

The in-vehicle safety & security method created to help protect you & your relatives on the road may also be used against you.

Over 100 automobile buyers had their vehicles disabled or triggered to continuously honk after police said a former employee hacked in to the company’s account in Texas.

A terminated & assumingly disgruntled employee accessed the computer method to disable the online account that allows the company to deactivate the starters & activate the horns & GPS of plenty of of the vehicles.

The company said they had over 80 customers who complained they lost work, missed school or complained of towing expenses & vehicle repairs.

Police arrested Omar Ramos-Lopez, 20, charged with breach of computer security.

The company said he had deactivated the starter method in plenty of vehicles that they financed & caused the horns to honk throughout the night, even if customers were up to date on their loans.

How secure is your private information? They all know how extreme disgruntled employees can get. How about hackers?

Automakers, however, seem reluctant to make their systems capable of disabling an engine. “What if the automobile stops on railway tracks?” Heiler asks.

Some companies — including Audiovox & LoJack — plan to offer systems that also permit owners to use the Web to track a vehicle & ensure that it is being used properly, including by kids or employees.

Directed Electronics sells anti-carjacking systems under Viper, Clifford & Python brand names with the capability to disable the engine. So does a company called CrimeStopper.

The systems sense that the driver’s door has been open long with the engine walking to indicate a possible carjacking. (How do you know I’m not getting my brief case which left on the front step or walking back to kiss my wife lovely bye) If the automobile is then driven without the engine being turned off, a horn honks, lights flash &, depending on the method, the engine either quits or won’t restart if it is shut off. (What if I had a heart attack & my wife was rushing me to the hospital & didn’t know this secret combination?)

Frank Viquez, director of automotive electronics for Allied Business Intelligence, a technology research firm, thinks the federal government may one day mandate vehicle tracking devices in all new cars.

Meanwhile, Vann Wilber, director of vehicle safety for the Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers, says his trade group is studying more advanced uses of GPS technology for safety, including real-time mapping. It would build on navigation systems now in plenty of vehicles & could prevent crashes — & improve traffic flow — by immediately alerting drivers to a traffic jam or “if a boat knocked the side of the bridge off,” he says.

The alliance is also studying how automatic crash notification, part of the OnStar automobile method which alerts emergency medical responders when an air bag is deployed, could be expanded. One possibility: using seat or seat belt sensors to document how many of people are in a automobile when it crashes, allowing technicians to send the proper number of ambulances.

Conclusion: Demand Privacy policy disclosure and every detail of this system installed.
THINK!!! If these can be remotely accessed by radio or cellular to be tracked and turned off/slowed…. What prevents them from being Hacked into and told to accelerate and disable the kill switch. What is to stop another disgruntled employee from following your private life and know where you live