Detecting Credit Card Skimmers

Modern credit card skimmers hidden in self-service gas pumps communicate via Bluetooth. There’s now an app that can detect them: The team from the University of California San Diego, who worked with other computer scientists from the University of Illinois, developed an app called Bluetana which not only scans and detects Bluetooth signals, but can actually differentiate those coming from… Continue reading Detecting Credit Card Skimmers

License Plate "NULL"

There was a DefCon talk by someone with the vanity plate "NULL." The California system assigned him every ticket with no license plate: $12,000. Although the initial $12,000-worth of fines were removed, the private company that administers the database didn’t fix the issue and new NULL tickets are still showing up. The unanswered question is: now that he has a… Continue reading License Plate "NULL"

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Modifying a Tesla to Become a Surveillance Platform

From DefCon: At the Defcon hacker conference today, security researcher Truman Kain debuted what he calls the Surveillance Detection Scout. The DIY computer fits into the middle console of a Tesla Model S or Model 3, plugs into its dashboard USB port, and turns the car’s built-in cameras­ — the same dash and rearview cameras providing a 360-degree view used… Continue reading Modifying a Tesla to Become a Surveillance Platform

Another Attack Against Driverless Cars

In this piece of research, attackers successfully attack a driverless car system — Renault Captur’s "Level 0" autopilot (Level 0 systems advise human drivers but do not directly operate cars) — by following them with drones that project images of fake road signs in 100ms bursts. The time is too short for human perception, but long enough to fool the… Continue reading Another Attack Against Driverless Cars

Full-width digital dashboard revealed for the Honda e compact EV

Honda has been drip-feeding details on its forthcoming Honda e electric hatchback for a while now. We’ve learned about the radical camera-based side mirrors and the “skateboard” chassis, and now Honda has revealed details of the stylish – yet… Continue reading Full-width digital dashboard revealed for the Honda e compact EV

Salvaging Audio Amplifiers From Vintage Volvos

The common automotive scrap yard is a land of plenty for the enterprising hacker., where many items that would be prohibitively expensive elsewhere can often be had for a song. This isn’t just limited to strictly automotive parts either, as the modern vehicle is full of all kinds of hardware. …read more

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Electric Cars Sound Off, Starting July 1st

By and large, automakers have spent much of the last century trying to make cars quieter and more comfortable. Noise from vehicles can be disruptive and just generally annoying, so it makes sense to minimise it where possible.

However, the noise from the average motor vehicle can serve a useful …read more

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Takata’s Deadly Airbags: An Engineering Omnishambles

Engineers are, for the time being, only human. This applies even more so to executives, and all the other people that make up a modern organisation. Naturally, mistakes are made. Some are minor, while others are less so. It’s common knowledge that problems are best dealt with swift and early, …read more

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