Dem AG says he’s investigating 2 major automakers because their cars are “too easy to steal” [More]
First they came for the gun sellers…
[Via Michael G]
Niemöller 2.0
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Notes from the Resistance
“too easy to steal”
And that, ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, and all of God’s creatures in between, is an example of blame shifting, sometimes also called The Ghetto Ethic.
“You ain’t watchin’ it, you deserve to lose it!”
A principle of IT security that’s relevant here, too: Security is a spectrum — on one end you have security, on the other you have usability (or “ease of use”).
We can build you a secure computer that’s almost completely unhackable, but it’ll be so far from “usability” that it will be indistinguishable from a brick (is it a brick? who can say for sure?). Or we can build the most easy-to-use computer on the planet, but it will be completely open and unlocked and so remotely accessible that a toddler can access and delete your files, accidentally, over the phone.
Naturally, neither of these extremes is desirable, so the industry tries to find the most ideal balance between security and usability that works for the most people, and then let the users (or administrators) adjust one way or the other as they see fit.
As automobiles became more computerized and electronically controlled, they arrived on the same spectrum of security vs. usability. Perfect usability means anyone can take and drive it; perfect security means even the owner with a factory key/fob could have trouble using it. And so the manufacturer tries to find a balance that works for most people.
So here’s a proposal for that Dem AG: Let’s start with the cop cars and your personal vehicle. We’ll upgrade the security at the factory to make them virtually impossible to steal. And then we can see how easy your officers can patrol and you make your court appearances on time when you have to authenticate yourself eight ways from Sunday before it’ll start, three more times before you can put it in Drive, and again every mile. Naturally, if you fail at any of these, the car will shift to Park and lock itself down until a factory technician can come and unlock it for you.
And please don’t try to have it towed or bypass these security features; the cars will have motion- and hack-detecting fail-safes that will inject resin into the engine cavities and overload all the electronic components, and as that damage is your fault, it is NOT covered by the warranty.
Secure enough? Good idea?