WikiLeaks: BlackBerry Car Software Among Potential Targets Of CIA Hacking
Documents posted Tuesday by Wikileaks indicate a myriad of common devices and software the CIA potentially could target and hack. One of those targets, apparently, could be inside your vehicle.
Blackberry’s QNX, an automotive software used in over 60 million cars, appeared in WikiLeaks’ documents as a potential target of CIA hacking, according to Automotive News. The software is mentioned during CIA meeting notes from 2014 as one of several “potential mission areas” for the agency’s Embedded Devices Branch. The documents, which are among 8,761 posted by WikiLeaks, don’t say if QNX ever wound up being hacked.
The software joins the likes of Apple’s iPhones, Google’s Android system and Samsung smart TVs as potential targets that the EDB, in collaboration with U.K. spy agencies, developed tools to break into, according to Automotive News.
“Providing the highest level of security has always been at the core of our mission, and it’s because of this, the trust placed in BlackBerry’s software and security expertise by the embedded world is unequaled,” BlackBerry said in a statement to NESN. “QNX SDP 7.0 operating system provides a comprehensive, multi-level, policy-driven security model incorporating BlackBerry’s legacy best-in-class security technologies, to mitigate attacks.”
Microsoft, Apple and Samsung also have issues responses to the information revealed in the documents.
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With BlackBerry’s phone sales dwindling, QNX has become a big part of the company’s plans moving forward. The in-car infotainment system recently has been billed by BlackBerry as an ideal software for future autonomous vehicles, according to Automotive News.
Thumbnail photo via Flickr/Nan Palmero
