Modern car wash systems could attack and trap users, researcher warns
A group of researchers have found that Internet-connected drive-through car washes are vulnerable to remote hacking, and could even provoke a “physical attack” on people, according to Motherboard / Vice.
To many it may sound like a scene from a science fiction movie but security researchers Jonathan Butts, founder of QED, and Billy Rios, CEO of Whitescope, said at Black Hat that vulnerabilities on ‘smart’ car washes could allow for attacks on drivers and their cars.
Hacked automated car wash systems could see cars being locked in by closing the bay doors or vehicles being hit from underneath and the sides. These were two of the examples mentioned in the original article.
The system used for the experiment was on the PDQ´s LaserWash, a fully-automated, brushless, touchless car wash system that sprays water and wax through a mechanical arm that moves around a vehicle.
Although the researchers filmed the tests, the carwash owner would not let them publish the video, the article added.
Rios and his team will work towards solving the security issues that some Internet-connected carwash systems suffer.
