In 2015, a devious pair of hackers, from the comfort of theirliving room, took control of a driver's sport utility vehicle as hewas cruising 70 mph along a St. Louis highway.Without warning, the driver was hit by a blast of frigid airemitting from the dashboard vent. Hip-hop music began blaring fromthe vehicle's sound system. 

The driver hardly had time to react when, next, wiper fluidsquirted onto the windshield and the wipers began swipingfuriously. Then he lost control of the SUV's steering and brakingsystems. Not yet done toying with him, the hackers locked the SUV'stransmission, bringing the vehicle to a halt on the fast-movinghighway. Just as the driver began pleading for relief, a largetruck bore down on him from behind.

Luckily, no accident occurred. This hacking was actually acontrolled experiment to reveal potential automotive cyber risks —and the driver was in on it.

It wasn't the first time hackers have been able to connect andtake control of a vehicle to reveal such automotivevulnerabilities. Two years ago, another team demonstrated theirability to tap into a vehicle's controller area network, knowntechnically as a "CAN bus," which generally serves as a specializedinternal communications system that connects components inside a vehicle. A yearlater, an automotive software company described how it hadinstalled a Trojan horse on a particular usage-based insurancedongle, an aftermarket plug-in device. This company claimed the ability to wirelessly and remotely influence a vehicle's mission-criticalcomponents, including the engine, brakes, and steering.

The SUV breach is a step up in sophistication from these earlierhacking episodes and more disturbing by far, as it was doneremotely without use of a plug-in dongle or other type ofaftermarket device. Instead, the SUV hackers reportedly usedsophisticated software that allowed them to send commands throughthe vehicle's entertainment system from a laptop.

The very thought that one's car can, potentially, be so easilyhacked, leaving a driver with no control over the vehicle's brakingand steering systems while the car is in motion, is indeed aterrifying one.

Can it really happen?

While there are varying opinions as to the ease with which avehicle's control system may be hacked, the idea that somethinglike this could potentially happen does raise several questions forusage-based insurance and telematics experts.

Some issues to consider include: How does the potential forvehicle hacking affect the insurance industry? Will the possibilityof hacking affect the adoption of telematics by insurers? How willvehicle buyers react? Will hacking-related concerns potentiallystifle the progress being made in connected-car technology?

To be realistic, the type of vehicle hijacking described by theSUV breach hackers is unlikely to occur. This is partly becausevehicle connectivity is still too limited to accommodate hacking onthe scale carried out by those hackers. The hacking incidents thathave been reported to date often are the result of long-termresearch conducted by dedicated teams who have access to thespecific vehicles that are hacked. In thefuture, two perceived trends in the auto manufacturing industrywill likely address the hacking threat before it has the potentialto become a danger.

In addition, reports indicate that manufacturers are alreadyinvesting significant efforts to encrypt and secure vehicles toprotect them from such hacking. We're seeing the rise of a networkof security companies providing safeguards for original equipmentmanufacturers (OEMs), and this is likely to grow in the comingyears. Also, the trend is moving away from aftermarket devices,such as plug-in dongles, which are potentially more vulnerable tohacking.

With the next generation of connected cars, OEMs will likelycontinue their efforts to introduce safer and more reliablevehicles. In addition, OEMs are likely to realize that thecollection and usage of telematics data for insurance purposes alsohas a positive effect on vehicle security.

Avner Freiberger is general manager and vicepresident of engineering for Jersey City, N.J.-based VeriskAnalytics' Telematics Innovation Center.

Related: How telematics can help make us safer on theroad

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