Referring to the security experts who demonstrated taking control of two popular vehicle models using a laptops connected to ECUs (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-23443215), what are the possibilities that there can be malware/trojans etc. written to infect vehicles?
I don't even drive yet, so I'm no expert when it comes to understanding the way cars work, but since they use the on-board diagnostics port used by mechanics to identify faults, doesn't that technically mean that they have full access to all sensors etc. located in the vehicle?
In the article is says they written software to send signals to the car, to do certain instructions which they desired. If they were capable of doing that, imagine what black hats would have in mind? (Obviously, at the moment the only way this is possible is physical access to the vehicle)
Considering nowadays modern vehicles are almost fully incorporated with a desktop computer, such as having in-built touch screens running some OS, video & audio players, image viewers, and so much more, don't you think it is possible for your average driver to place an infected thumb-drive into his car, with the intention of listening to the latest tunes or watching a movie, only to have a trojan (which made it's way onto his storage device from his PC) in the background being executed by the vehicle, which can lead to destruction?
What are your thoughts?
Edit:
I have found this article which explains some researchers burned a trojan to a music CD, which allowed them to change the car's music player's firmware to get access to other components of the car.
(Note that I'm still open to discuss, and debate)
