BlackBerry Virus Scanner for Cars: Phone Maker to Venture Into Vehicular Cyber-Security
The company known for its business smartphones have ventured into car software, as Blackberry is currently working on a security feature intended to diagnose cars and other vehicles for computer viruses and warn drivers of danger.
Their new service could work much like virus scanners on computers but applied to cars and vehicles. The automobiles don't need to be physically connected either, as Blackberry's new system could reportedly install security updates wirelessly to vehicles that are on standby.
So far, Blackberry management has not issued a statement on their new venture. John Wall, head of the QNX division for the company, has yet to add a comment as well.
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Among the car makers that Blackberry is working with, in the course of their new project, are luxury brands Aston Martin and Range Rover, as reported by Reuters. This new initiative from the company has been revealed by Gus Papageorgiou, an analyst for Macquarie, via materials sent to clients on Monday, May 15.
Cyber-security for the auto industry is one area that Blackberry is looking to expand into, mostly in order to increase its revenue after several failures in the smartphone market over the recent years.
According to the note sent by Papageorgiou, advances in automobile software present a new opportunity for car owners, and at the same time, it could be another avenue for hackers to do damage. "Although a connected, more software-centric automobile offers tremendous advantages to consumers, it also opens the doors to hackers," Papageorgiou wrote in his message.
Cyber-security for vehicles first gained public notice when Wired published their feature on software exploits for Jeep vehicles, which could put drivers and passengers in danger, according to CNet. It was this piece that caused Fiat Chrysler to issue a recall of at least one million vehicles to address the software vulnerabilities pointed out by the researchers in the Wired article.
