In the not too distant future, we'll live in a world where computers are driving our cars. Soon, cars may not even have steering wheels or brake pedals. But, in this scenario, should we be worried about cyber attack of these vehicles? In this talk, two researchers who have headed self-driving car security teams for multiple companies will discuss how self driving cars work, how they might be attacked, and how they can ultimately be secured.
Dr. Charlie Miller is "one of the most technically proficient hackers on Earth," according to Foreign Policy. After receiving his PhD in Mathematics from the University of Notre Dame, Dr. Miller was a computer hacker for the National Security Agency for five years. Since that time he has worked for the Twitter information security team, as well as worked on the autonomous vehicle security team for Uber, Didi Chuxing, and currently Cruise Automation. He has won the "Super Bowl" of computer hacking, the annual Pwn2Own competition four times. Dr. Miller has found countless vulnerabilities in a number of Apple products including their laptops and phones. He was the first to remotely exploit the iPhone when it was released as well as the first Android phone when it was released (on the day it came out). Lately, Dr. Miller has spent considerable time in the field of automotive security. Dr. Miller demonstrated that a variety of Fiat Chrysler vehicles could be remotely hacked from anywhere in the country and he could control the radio, brakes, wipers, transmission, acceleration, and even the steering of the target vehicle. The demonstration of these vulnerabilities led to the recall of 1.4 million vehicles.
Chris Valasek is a Security Architect at Cruise Automation. Valasek is regarded for his work in the automotive security arena. Valasek was lauded for the remote compromise of a 2014 Jeep Cherokee, whereby he and his research partner obtained physical control of the vehicle. Valasek specializes in reverse engineering and exploitation research. Chris has a B.S. in Computer Science from the University of Pittsburgh and is the chairman of SummerCon, America's longest running hacker conference.