OnStar & Progressive Insurance Partnership and Your Safety and Privacy
January, 2015
Dear Care for Crash Victims Community Members:
New Partners for Driving Information
Information available in vehicles is briefly described in Wikipedia as:
“The modern automobile may have as many as 70 electronic control units (ECU) for various subsystems. (JLR use 83 in the latest Range Rover) .[6] Typically the biggest processor is the engine control unit. Others are used fortransmission, airbags, antilock braking/ABS, cruise control, electric power steering, audio systems, power windows, doors, mirror adjustment, battery and recharging systems for hybrid/electric cars, etc. Some of these form independent subsystems, but communications among others are essential. A subsystem may need to control actuators or receive feedback from sensors. The CAN standard was devised to fill this need.” See
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CAN_busProgressive Snapshot Device Vulnerabilities
A hacking expert has evaluated the Progressive Snapshot device and found hacker vulnerabilities:
“Thuen called the outdated tech being used in Snapshot “highly troubling” as it is vulnerable to attack. “A skilled attacker could almost certainly compromise such dongles to gain remote control of a vehicle, or even an entire fleet of vehicles. Once compromised, the consequences range from privacy data loss to life and limb.”” An article in Network World addresses security loopholes in Progressive Snapshot device. See article and comments at: http://www.networkworld.com/article/2871485/microsoft-subnet/hackers-could-exploit-security-holes-in-progressive-insurance-snapshot-devices.html
Forbes reports that Progressive responded as follows:“Progressive said it hadn’t heard from Thuen, but handed this comment via email to Forbes: “The safety of our customers is paramount to us. We are confident in the performance of our Snapshot device – used in more than two million vehicles since 2008 – and routinely monitor the security of our device to help ensure customer safety.” See http://www.forbes.com/sites/thomasbrewster/2015/01/15/researcher-says-progressive-insurance-dongle-totally-insecure/
Inventor Entrepreneur Effort to Protect Privacy and Safety
Tom Kowalick offers his vision of a safety and privacy protection system at http://vimeo.com/115537605
