Mitsubishi Outlander Car Alarms can be hacked
Researchers have recently discovered that the Mitsubishi Outlanders alarm can be turned off by exploiting security bugs in the vehicles on-board wifi.
This loophole could mean digitally savvy thieves can turn off the alarm system and possibily steal items from the vehicle, or in worst cases the car itself.
This weakness can also be used to change some of the vehicles settings on board and even drain the battery completely.
Mitsubishi are warning all users of these vehicles to turn the on-board WiFi off until engineers can assess how to fix this vunerability.
BBC Reports on Mitsubishi Outlander Hacking
A BBC news report has said that the investigation started when a security expert; Ken Munro spotted a WiFi access point appear on his smartphone. From this he realised that the access point belonged to a Mitsubishi Outlander which was owned by his friend.
He quickly showed the owner of the vehicle what he could do with the associated app and how he could control aspects of the vehicle through his smartphone.
Ken Munro then bought a Mitsubishi Outlander himself so that he could investigate the security bug further discovring that the way Mitsubishi had implemented the WiFi into its vehicles created serious shortcomings.
For instance the name of the access point actually relates to the vehicle, pinpointing the vehicles by thieves using WiFi finders is made easier because of this flaw. Many large companies collect data on WiFi points for apps such as Apple Maps, to help get a more direct location, in turn this has led to many Mitsubishi’s parked on driveways appearing on websites that gather, such information.
Other Manufacturers have been affected by hacking incidents
Mitsubishi have joing a long list of vehicle manufacturers who offer web based services and apps to help with the owners experience in owning their brand. For instance the BMW app allows you to Lock and Unlock the vehicle using mobile data that send an encrypted message over the internet, via BMW’s servers onward to the car.
Mitsubishi aren’t the only vehicle manufacturers to have had hacking attacks, with Jeep, Tesla and Nissan all falling foul. The worst of which was the Jeep Cherokee which researchers found out that the vehicle could be taken over remotely, leading to a recall of 1.4 million vehicles for firmware updates.
For more information on how you can prevent a hacking attack on your Mitsubishi Outlander, please contact your nearest Mitsubishi dealer. If you would like quotes on a Mitusbishi Outlander PHEV, then please call the team on 0330 330 9425 or complete the form below:
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For the BBC News Article, please click the link – Mitsubishi Outlander hybrid car alarm ‘hacked’