Design Article
Are automotive 'black boxes' secure?
Charles Murray
2/4/2013 1:11 PM EST
A member of a working group at the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers (IEEE) has cited problems with the new rule because electronic data recorders (EDRs, also known as "black boxes") could reportedly be accessed by anyone who wants to tamper with data after an accident. "We're all for event data recorders," Tom Kowalick, chairman of the IEEE Global Standards for Motor Vehicle EDRs and an author of seven books on EDRs, told Design News. "But we're also for some kind of basic consumer protection."
Kowalick contends that numerous companies already make software-based solutions for downloading and altering data after a crash. "Last time I looked, there were 23 companies making products that allow someone to erase your crash data," Kowalick told us.
(Source: Tom Kowalick/AirMika Inc.)
|
|
|
|
|
selinz
2/6/2013 3:54 PM EST
It makes perfect sense that if a person was intentionally speeding and got in an accident, they would not want the data to remain intact. Thus, I suspect that there will be an aftermarket for data tampering under the guise of "data security."
Sign in to Reply
Anshuman Saxena
2/11/2013 1:36 PM EST
It is important to have black-box-like feature sets in vehicles. If video recorded just prior to an accident can be retrieved, it is really handy for insurance companies and possibly as additional record for legal proceedings. Having said that, it is important that the video data are not misused. There are ways in which secure solutions can be implemented using the secure features available on some embedded processors that prevent people from tampering or misusing the video data. – Anshuman Saxena, Texas Instruments
Sign in to Reply