Hackers Can Break Into A Subaru Outback Through Texting

So we all know texting and driving don’t mix, but it turns out texting and parking may be a bad idea too if you’re a Subaru Outback owner. If it’s possible for hackers to hack twitter accounts, cell phones and and even confidential political cables, then you can bet that it was only a matter of time before hackers were able to break into cars through the touch of a button.

It turns out there is an organization called The Black Hat, which focuses on technical security and hosts meetings all over the world. They’re aim is to show industry execs the latest ways hackers are able to infultrate pretty much anything. At a recent event in the States, some people from iSec Partners showed just how easy it is to unlock and start a Subaru Outback if you are technically advantaged enough. And it can all be done through an Android smartphone. Apparently all a hacker needs to do is set up their own GSM network, grab the passwords via text message and voila – they pretty much have complete control of the vehicle without hotwiring, smashing windows or security alarms going off. They could likely do this in a busy mall parking lot and no one would be the wiser.

It should be noted that this is not a flaw on Subaru’s part, apparently iSec is able to hack multiple devices that use similar networks. So, what can you do about it if you’re a Subaru Outback owner? Well, not much of anything. As mentioned The Black Hat holds these seminars so companies can increase their security networks. So until those networks get upgraded, unfortunately all you can rely on is crossed fingers at the moment.

[TG Daily]

Test Drive: 2010 Subaru Outback

By Kevin Harrison

People love to throw words around all the time when they don’t really make much sense. For instance, the word ‘epic’ is grossly overused. Have you noticed that? Somehow everything is ‘epic’ these days.

“What an epic goal!”

“Epic fail!”

“That pizza I just ate was epic”

And so fourth. But really, the only thing that’s “epic” these days is the tolerance I have for people who overuse the word.

Likewise, people (car manufacturers specifically) are all about the word ‘crossover’. But what exactly is a crossover? Some people say it’s a vehicle that looks like an SUV, but has a car-like ride. Oh really? Then why not just buy a car? Why do you need to ‘crossover’ into another vehicle segment?

In my mind, a true crossover is a vehicle that can handle all the elements. That is, it can handle all sorts of terrain, can swallow all sorts of cargo, can hold its own performance wise, is safe, looks good, is decent on gas, can hold a lot of people comfortably and won’t cost you an arm and a leg. If you’re going to ‘crossover’ different vehicle segments, might as well cross them all to be a true crossover.

A lot of people say Subaru was the first to do this with its Outback. Now completely redesigned for 2010, does the crossover that started the whole craze still have the goods?

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Canadian Car of the Year Finalists Revealed! We Make Our Picks!

Those lucky ducks that have coveted AJAC (Automobile Journalists Association of Canada) memberships all recently got together to rate the best new car of the year from the Canadian perspective for 2010. They tested them, rated them, and broke down the finalists into five categories.

Since Car Driven is literally only hours old as we write this, it seems a bit premature to have our own COTY awards. So instead, we’ll just use AJAC’s finalists and make our own picks.

Find out the finalists and our picks after the jump!

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