Electrical vehicles are in the process of revolutionizing the whole automobile industry. Even now, the industry is moving at an exceptionally fast pace to catch up with the technology of these vehicles and meet their demand. Simultaneously, governments and companies are working to enable the functioning of these electrical vehicles by building electric vehicle chargers. They are getting made and made to be accessible to people.
These electric vehicles have brought sustainability and green operations in the world. The way we commute is going to be transformed. Moreover, incorporating artificial intelligence in the system has further enhanced the efficiency and effectiveness of the technology.
However, this blessing does not only have an upside. In fact, it has a dark side as well that was being overseen or ignored until now. According to new research by security consulting firm Pen Test Partners, these electric chargers are extremely vulnerable to cyberattacks and hacking. The research included working on home chargers and the publicly available ones, only to find that there is a consumer protection regulations negligence that has created this possibility of hacking.
The issue is that the home charger has the ability to inform the owners about the state of the vehicle even from a large distance. This allowed the white hackers to turn the vehicle on and off from a distance as well. In extreme cases, there is a possibility that the hackers use this distant charger to access the charging devices inside the home and control them.
A few charger brands used off-the-shelf Raspberry Pi modules that do not have much security. On the other hand, public charges can be used as “a cyber weapon that others could use to cause widespread power cuts.” There is a dire need for the regulators to look into the matter and rectify the probability of things going south before something actually happens.
