U.S. Government QUIETLY Buying Tech To Hijack Cars

US Government Quietly Buying Tech To Hijack Cars

(RightWing.org) – Twenty-three-year-old college student Sam Curry promotes himself as a web application security researcher. In reality, he’s a modern-day bounty hunter earning rewards by uncovering cyber vulnerabilities. He’s made tens of thousands of dollars hacking into cyber operations run by the US Defense Department and several Big Tech companies. Most recently, he broke into a system quietly purchased by the US government to hijack car owners’ data.

More car hacking!

Earlier this year, we were able to remotely unlock, start, locate, flash, and honk any remotely connected Honda, Nissan, Infiniti, and Acura vehicles, completely unauthorized, knowing only the VIN number of the car.

Here's how we found it, and how it works: pic.twitter.com/ul3A4sT47k

— Sam Curry (@samwcyo) November 30, 2022

Berla Corporation, a digital forensics company, created the Infotainment and Vehicle System Forensics (iVe) tool in 2013 with the help of taxpayer dollars provided through the US Department of Homeland Security’s Science and Technology Directorate.

Reportedly available exclusively to law enforcement agencies, the iVe system allows investigators to obtain digital evidence from the navigation systems of thousands of vehicle models. It can also access data from smartphones, USB drives, and other media devices connected to a vehicle’s infotainment systems.

Investigators working for the US Customs and Border Protection (CBP) and Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) agencies have spent hundreds of thousands of dollars using the iVe forensic tool.

"While we don’t know how many cars CBP and ICE have hacked, we do know that nearly every new car is vulnerable." https://t.co/7UIlbxmxIQ

— Adam Levin (@Adam_K_Levin) December 2, 2022

However, Curry’s ability to hack a portion of the system is raising alarms among privacy advocacy groups like the Surveillance Technology Oversight Project (STOP). The group recently issued a report warning that vehicles “collect more detailed data” than smartphones but “receive fewer legal and technological protections.”

The project’s research director recently told Forbes that ICE and the CBP were “weaponizing” the iVe tool to “perform sweeping searches” of vehicle passengers’ lives.