Used car safety questioned over former owners’ app connections
used car buyers can have their cars tracked by former owners who fail to disconnect their smartphones from applications in cars, a computer safety researcher has warned.
IBM researcher, Charles Henderson, has called on carmakers to do a better job of protecting new owners after he found he was still connected to his old car after a year of selling it.
Advertisement – post continues below
Henderson said that even though he deleted all personal details in the car before selling it on, it remained linked with his phone, allowing him to track its details.
He argued that makers have no way to disconnect the car’s apps from former owners. “The car is really smart but it’s not smart enough to know who its owner is, so it’s not smart enough to know it’s been re-sold.”
Auto express previously highlighted similar issues with a number of other owners. A Land Rover discovery sport owner who sold his car privately was able to continue accessing the car’s InControl app even though the new owner was now on the other side of the country. He could still find out the car’s location, and worryingly whether or not it was locked.
• car dealers alerted to tighten up cyber safety to KO hackers