Battlestar Galactijeep

Until Netflix pulled the series a while back, we were enjoying catching up on the recent revision of the classic television series, Battlestar Galactica.  One of the premises of the show was that the titular spaceship, Galactica, was protected to a certain degree from hacking by enemy Cylons because all of the different systems on the ship were separated from each other.  There was no central computer network running everything.  While this was often cumbersome, it also protected the spaceship from hacking attempts that crippled and destroyed other starships with integrated systems.  A certain lack of convenience was the price to pay for greater safety.

Which is what immediately came to mind upon reading this Wired article.  I love Jeeps.  At least I used to.  The newer models don’t thrill me as much as they aren’t very distinct from other SUVs any longer.  Oh, yeah – and they can be hacked from long distance to give someone else dangerous control over the A/C system, the radio, the transmission, the brakes,and pretty much ever critical part of the vehicle, because all of those systems are connected and integrated and the entertainment system has an active wireless connection to the Internet.

I’m not a fan of increased computerization in vehicles, particularly Internet-enabled computerization, and this is why.  It’s hard to believe that nobody in development stopped to consider that someone would want to hack their vehicle, and would inevitably be successful.  If you have a new Jeep, better stop at your dealer to get that security patch installed, pronto!