Today’s tales form the world of the dark arts and militarism begins with a saga playing out in classic spy vs. spy fashion, with the tapper suddenly becoming the tapped. Our first headline comes from New Europe:
EU, US, Russia, Ukraine: spy games on your youtube
US officials say they suspect Russia is behind the leak of an apparently bugged phone conversation about Ukraine between two senior American diplomats in which they make disparaging comments about the European Union. Another conversation also leaked features two EU officials making comments about the US.
“I would say that since the video was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government, I think it says something about Russia’s role,” White House spokesman Jay Carney told reporters.
The US officials noted that an aide to Russian deputy prime minister, Dmitry Rogozin, was among the first to tweet about a YouTube video that contains audio of the alleged call between the top US diplomat for Europe, Victoria Nuland, and the US ambassador to Ukraine, Geoffrey Pyatt. The video, which shows photos of Nuland and Pyatt, is subtitled in Russian.
In the audio, voices resembling those of Nuland and Pyatt discuss international efforts to resolve Ukraine’s ongoing political crisis. At one point, the Nuland voice colorfully suggests that the EU’s position should be ignored. “F— the EU,” the female voice said.
The video in question via Re Post:
Casting suspicions with EUobserver:
Ukraine leak designed to ‘split’ EU-US diplomacy
The publication on YouTube of what appear to be two sensitive US and EU diplomatic conversations on Ukraine is designed to spoil relations between the allies, EU diplomatic sources say.
The items were uploaded by an anonymous user called “Re Post” on Tuesday (4 February) and have several thousand clicks each already.
In the imputed US clip, which appears to date to Ukraine President Viktor Yanukovych’s offer of top jobs to opposition MPs on 25 January, Viktoria Nuland, a senior US state department official, is allegedly speaking to Geoffrey Pyatt, the US ambassador to Ukraine.
They bat around ideas on which of the MPs should be Prime Minister in an interim government. Nuland adds she wants a senior UN diplomat to come to Kiev to seal an accord on the US-model cabinet.
“So that would be great, I think, to help glue this thing and have the UN help glue it and, you know, fuck the EU,” she says.
“Oh exactly, and I think we’ve got to do something to make it stick together, because you can be sure that if it does start to gain altitude the Russians will be working behind the scenes to torpedo it,” Pyatt replies.
And the mea culpa, via EUbusiness:
Top US diplomat for Europe says sorry for cursing the EU
US officials, while not denying such a conversation took place, refused to go into details, and pointed the finger at Russia for allegedly bugging the diplomats’ phones.
“Let me convey that she has been in contact with her EU counterparts, and of course has apologized,” State Department spokeswoman Jen Psaki said.
While Psaki said she had no independent details of how the conversation was captured and uploaded onto the social networking site, she added: “Certainly we think this is a new low in Russian tradecraft.”
More from the McClatchy Washington Bureau:
White House implicates Russia in leaked call between US diplomats
White House Press Secretary Jay Carney referred most of the questions to the State Department, but noted that the conversation “was first noted and tweeted out by the Russian government.
“I think it says something about Russia’s role,” Carney said of the appearance of the leaked remarks. “But the content of the conversation is not something I’m going to comment on.”
Carney said relations between the US and the EU are “stronger than ever” and said there was “no question” that Nuland and the ambassador are trying to “help de-escalate the crisis” in Ukraine.
“It’s certainly no secret that our ambassador and assistant secretary have been working with the government of Ukraine, with the opposition, with business and civil society leaders to support their efforts to find a peaceful solution through dialogue and political and economic reform,” Carney said. “Ultimately, it’s up to the Ukrainian people to decide their future.”
Here’s a piece about the crisis from a Russian state medium, RT:
‘This is what you cook for Ukraine?’ State Dept. Psaki grilled over leaked tape
Program notes:
Senior US State Department official Victoria Nuland has allegedly been caught giving a harsh message to the EU while discussing Ukrainian opposition leaders’ roles in the country’s future government. The phone call was taped and posted on YouTube. US officials refused to confirm or deny the tape’s authenticity, but State Department spokesperson Jan Psaki said that she “didn’t say it was inauthentic.” While being grilled about this and other tape-related statements, Psaki hinted that the tape could have been leaked by Moscow.
Another Russo-centric crisis in the headlines from Network World:
Experts warn of Russian spying, hackers at Sochi Olympics
Americans heading to Sochi, Russia, for the Winter Olympics are being warned that privacy is not a right in the host country and all their electronic communications will likely be monitored.
The United States Computer Emergency Response Team (US-CERT), a division of the Department of Homeland Security, is recommending the use of electronic devices that are devoid of sensitive information and can be left behind, if Russian authorities decide to confiscate the equipment.
To avoid problems, personal smartphones, tablets and laptops should be left at home. Americans should only use devices bought or borrowed for the trip and can be wiped clean when leaving the country to avoid taking malware back home.
Sam venue, different focus from Homeland Security News Wire:
DHS alerts Russia-bound airlines of toothpaste tube bombs risk
The U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism agencies have advising airlines flying to Russia to be aware of the possibility that explosive materials could be concealed in toothpaste or cosmetic tubes. DHS issued a bulletin to airlines flying into Russia alerting them to the potential threat. The new concern about explosive toothpaste tubes notwithstanding, the biggest worry is still Islamist groups based in southern Russia’s Caucasus region.
The U.S. intelligence and counterterrorism agencies have advising airlines flying to Russia to be aware of the possibility that explosive materials could be concealed in toothpaste or cosmetic tubes.
Representative Michael McCaul (R-Texas), chairman of the House Homeland Security Committee, said Wednesday that DHS issued a bulletin to airlines flying into Russia alerting them to the potential threat. McCaul said the bulletin indicated that officials believed the explosives might be used during flights or smuggled into the city of Sochi, where competition at the Winter Olympics begins later today. The opening ceremony will be held Friday.
Bringing it all back home with PCWorld:
More than 4,000 groups sign up to protest NSA
More than 4,000 groups and websites have signed on to support a day of protest against U.S. National Security Agency surveillance programs, scheduled for Tuesday.
In addition, tens of thousands of people have pledged to make calls and post messages on the Web in support of surveillance reform, said organizers of The Day We Fight Back.
Among the groups supporting the day of Web protest are the American Civil Liberties Union, Amnesty International, BoingBoing, Demand Progress, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, Fight for the Future, Free Press, Mozilla, Reddit and Tumblr.
“Together we will push back against powers that seek to observe, collect, and analyze our every digital action,” organizers wrote on TheDayWeFightBack.org. “Together, we will make it clear that such behavior is not compatible with democratic governance. Together, if we persist, we will win this fight.”
From Nextgov, Tweet this!:
Twitter Breaks Rank, Threatens to Fight NSA Gag Orders
Twitter threatened to launch a legal battle with the Obama administration on Thursday over gag orders that prevent it from disclosing information about surveillance of its users.
The statement puts Twitter at odds with other technology giants including Google, Microsoft, Yahoo, and Facebook, who all struck a deal with the government last month to drop their lawsuits in exchange for looser secrecy rules.
“We think the government’s restriction on our speech not only unfairly impacts our users’ privacy, but also violates our First Amendment right to free expression and open discussion of government affairs,” Jeremy Kessel, Twitter’s manager of global legal policy, wrote in a blog post.
He said the company has pressed the Justice Department for greater transparency and is also “considering legal options we may have to seek to defend our First Amendment rights.”
North of the border and suspicions from the Toronto Globe and Mail:
RCMP, intelligence agency accused of spying on pipeline opponents
The B.C. Civil Liberties Association has filed complaints against the RCMP and the Canadian Security Intelligence Service, saying the law enforcement agencies may have illegally spied on opponents of pipelines and then shared the intelligence information with the petroleum industry.
The group has asked the Security Intelligence Review Committee and the Commission for Public Complaints Against the RCMP to investigate the situation.
“What we’re hoping here is to find out more about what’s happened,” Josh Paterson, executive director of the BCCLA, said Thursday at a news conference in Vancouver.
RT covers yet another U.S. mea culpa:
US ambassador admits tapping Angela Merkel’s phone was ‘stupid’
The US ambassador to Germany has admitted it was a “stupid” idea to tap the phone of German Chancellor Angela Merkel while discussing business, friendship and mutual trust at a trade association meeting.
“We have done a number of stupid things, Chancellor Markel’s phone being one of them,” Ambassador John Emerson told the VBKI trade association at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel in Berlin.
He apologized for the stress and loss of trust the recent NSA wiretapping revelations might have caused the German government, according to reports by the Local.
Big Brother adds eyes via the Washington Post:
New surveillance technology can track everyone in an area for several hours at a time
As Americans have grown increasingly comfortable with traditional surveillance cameras, a new, far more powerful generation is being quietly deployed that can track every vehicle and person across an area the size of a small city, for several hours at a time. Although these cameras can’t read license plates or see faces, they provide such a wealth of data that police, businesses and even private individuals can use them to help identify people and track their movements.
Already, the cameras have been flown above major public events such as the Ohio political rally where Sen. John McCain (R-Ariz.) named Sarah Palin as his running mate in 2008, McNutt said. They’ve been flown above Baltimore; Philadelphia; Compton, Calif.; and Dayton in demonstrations for police. They’ve also been used for traffic impact studies, for security at NASCAR races and at the request of a Mexican politician, who commissioned the flights over Ciudad Juárez.
Defense contractors are developing similar technology for the military, but its potential for civilian use is raising novel civil liberties concerns. In Dayton, where Persistent Surveillance Systems is based, city officials balked last year when police considered paying for 200 hours of flights, in part because of privacy complaints.
From Al Jazeera America, a crackdown in Ankara:
Turkish parliament adopts Internet censorship bill
Measure also forces service providers to submit users’ activity records to officials on request, without notifying users
Turkey’s parliament has adopted a new Internet bill roundly criticized as an assault by Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan on freedom of expression, access to information and investigative journalism. The measure was approved as Erdogan’s government is in the midst of a sweeping corruption probe that has shaken his Cabinet.
After hours of debate, the measure was adopted late on Wednesday in parliament, where Erdogan’s ruling Justice and Development Party (AKP) dominates with 319 of the 550 seats.
The bill permits a government agency, the Telecommunications Communications Presidency (TIB), to block access to websites without court authorization if they are deemed to violate privacy or to contain material seen as “insulting.”
Reaction from Deutsche Welle:
EU criticizes Turkey’s Internet law
The EU has criticized Turkey’s tightened Internet controls. Lawmakers adopted the new Internet legislation late on Wednesday following hours of debate involving fierce objections from the opposition.
The criticism came after Turkey’s parliament amended regulations allowing the government to block websites without a court order and mandate Internet service providers to store data up to two years. President Abdullah Gul still must sign the new law, which allows the blocking of websites believed to violate privacy or contain content considered insulting.
“The law needs to be revised in line with European standards,” said Peter Stano, a spokesman for EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele. “The Turkish public deserves more information and more transparency, not more restrictions.”
The legislation also forces providers to retain user data for two years and present it to authorities without notifying the user in question. The new measures build upon existing Internet restrictions introduced in 2007 that, according to a Google transparency report published in December, make Turkey equal to China as the world’s biggest web censor.
The 2007 law has allowed for temporary blocking of websites including WordPress, Dailymotion and Vimeo. YouTube was also blocked for two years until 2010.
After the jump, the latest developments in Asia’s sundry zonal, military posturing, and historical crises, Mission Impossible tech, a spooky blast from the past, hacks and embarrassments, cartels and vigilantes battle online, hackers seize control of cars, and more. . .
Our first Asian headline from an armed and increasingly dangerous NHK WORLD:
Abe: Non-use of defense right would be damaging
Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says Japan needs to exercise the right to collective self-defense by reinterpreting its Constitution.
Abe was replying to a question in the Upper House budgetary committee on Thursday from an opposition Japan Restoration Party lawmaker who urged him to quickly make the decision to allow Japan to use the right.
Abe said that the Japan-US security alliance would suffer incalculable damage if a Japanese Self-Defense Force ship did not shoot down a missile heading for a US Aegis ship on a patrol mission for Japan.
Abe also replied to a question about the work conditions of foreign trainees Japan has invited from some developing countries.
A blast from Uncle Sam via South China Morning Post:
US vents criticism of Chinese claims in South China Sea
The United States has growing concerns China’s maritime claims in the disputed South China Sea are an effort to gain creeping control of oceans in the Asia-Pacific region, a senior US official has said.
In congressional testimony, US Assistant Secretary of State for East Asian and Pacific Affairs Danny Russel said China’s vague territorial claims in the South China Sea had “created uncertainty, insecurity and instability” among its neighbours.
While the United States says it does not take sides in disputes, Russel said it had an interest in seeing maritime disputes resolved peacefully.
“There are growing concerns that this pattern of behaviour in the South China Sea reflects incremental effort by China to assert control over the area contained in the so-called ‘nine-dash line’ despite objections of its neighbours and despite the lack of explanation or apparent basis under international law regarding the scope of the claim itself,” Russel told the House of Representatives subcommittee on Asia and the Pacific.
China Daily blasts Uncle Sam’s blast:
US official’s criticism over China’s ADIZ unfounded
A senior US security official, in an interview with Kyodo News, has warned that the announcement of another air defense identification zone (ADIZ) by China would trigger an expansion of US military presence in the Asia-Pacific.
However, the warning of Evan Medeiros, senior director for Asian affairs at the US National Security Council, is unfounded as he might have not realized that the real threat to the region comes from Japan, not China.
Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and his right-leaning government are the source of surging tensions and hostility in the region.
The Mainichi sees military/industrial profiteering:
Japan, China, S. Korea boosting defense spending amid tensions: report
Japan, China and South Korea accounted for around 57 percent of the real increase in Asian defense spending in 2013, with “some of the largest absolute increases in defense outlays,” a leading think tank said Wednesday.
The annual “Military Balance” report issued by the London-based International Institute for Strategic Studies says heightened tensions in East Asia over territorial issues and differing perceptions of history have led the countries to boost their defense spending.
The report cited Japan’s dispute with China and its concerns over North Korea’s nuclear ambitions and missile programs as contributing “significantly to a more assertive Japanese posture on security matters” since Prime Minister Shinzo Abe came to power in December 2012.
From the Japan Times, peninsular politics:
Pyongyang threatens to cancel reunions with Seoul
North Korea threatened Thursday to cancel reunions of Korean War-divided families because of upcoming U.S.-South Korean military drills and accused the United States of raising tensions by flying nuclear-capable B-52 bombers near the Korean Peninsula.
The apparent about-face a day after the rival Koreas agreed on dates for the emotional meetings fits a pattern analysts describe of North Korea agreeing to things South Korea covets and then pulling back until it gets what it wants — in this case a scaling down of massive military drills by Seoul and Washington that are seen as a huge drain on the impoverished North’s military.
The rival Koreas decided Wednesday to resume the family reunions, which haven’t been held since 2010, on Feb. 20-25. Before the agreement, many in Seoul were skeptical that North Korea would allow the reunions anytime soon because of its anger over the annual military drills scheduled later this month.
More politicking from NHK WORLD:
Abe to work for Japan-S.Korea summit
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe says he will actively pursue a summit meeting with South Korea.
Abe was speaking at an Upper House committee meeting on Thursday.
He was asked about relations with South Korea by a member of the government coalition New Komeito party.
Yuichiro Uozumi noted that more than five million people travel between Japan and South Korea every year. He said Japan should waste no time in its effort to improve relations.
Nikkei Asian Review has Abe-mantics:
Abe wants China to cool down and talk: NAR exclusive
Beijing has been vocal in its claims that a conflict between China and Japan would be due solely to Tokyo’s provocative actions. But in a recent exclusive interview with the Nikkei Asian Review, Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe reiterated his conviction that his country has no intention of sparking conflict with China.
“The bilateral relationship Japan has with China is one of our most important. With our deep interdependence in a variety of areas, the two countries are too closely connected to be separated,” Abe said. “Moreover, let me state clearly that, as a matter of reality, the two countries could never clash. We must not let that happen.”
He said that despite the strong rhetoric coming from China, “I believe this conviction is shared by Chinese leaders.”
Abe called for resetting relations by going back to the Mutually Beneficial Relationship Based on Common Strategic Interests between Japan and China, which he agreed on with China’s then-leaders when he was prime minister in 2006. He said the countries should focus on enhancing ties and avoid letting disagreements on particular issues damage the entire relationship.
Xinhua posts umbrage:
Nanjing-based newspaper slams NHK official’s denial of massacre
A newspaper based in Nanjing on Thursday published a commentary denouncing the remarks made by an official of Japan’s public broadcaster NHK, who denied the Nanjing Massacre.
Naoki Hyakuta, a member of the NHK board of governors, said in a speech this week that the Nanjing Massacre never happened, claiming that the massacre is “propaganda” by the Chinese side and the propaganda is ignored by other countries.
“History allows no attempt to cover up by goblins or evil minds,” said the commentary published in the Xinhua Daily, a newspaper run by a media corporation in Nanjing, capital of east China’s Jiangsu Province.
“The remains in the ‘pit of ten thousand corpses’ in Nanjing, the scars on the survivors’ bodies, as well as numerous photos and historical essays all tell the undisputed facts of the savage attack,” the article said.
And the Mainichi looks for help:
China asks Russia for support on Senkakus in return for Northern Territories backing
China has been unofficially asking Russia to support Beijing’s claim to the Senkaku Islands in Okinawa Prefecture in return for recognizing Moscow’s sovereignty over the Northern Territories off Hokkaido claimed by Japan, sources involved in Japan-Russia diplomacy said.
Russia has refused to comply with the proposal because Moscow is seeking cooperation from Tokyo in developing Russia’s Far Eastern region.
Chinese diplomats made the proposal to their Russian counterparts during unofficial bilateral consultations in autumn 2010, according to the sources.
“We’re prepared to recognize Russia’s sovereignty over the four northern islands,” a Chinese diplomat was quoted as telling the Russian delegation during the meeting.
South China Morning Post issues a rebuff:
Moscow rejects Beijing’s offer to co-operate on separate territorial disputes with Tokyo
Russia sees no need for Chinese involvement in its own territorial negotiations with Japan
Russia has rejected a Chinese offer to co-operate on their separate territorial rows with Japan, a report said yesterday, as Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe prepared to meet Russian President Vladimir Putin in Sochi.
Beijing said it would support Moscow in its decades-old dispute over the sovereignty of islands to the north of Japan in exchange for backing in its row about the ownership of an East China Sea archipelago, the Mainichi Shimbun reported.
The offer had been made repeatedly since 2010, the paper said, citing diplomatic sources in Russia and Japan, but had always been brushed off.
The Asahi Shimbun dons panoptical spectacles:
Privacy concerns surround Osaka Station facial recognition experiment
An experiment that will monitor people through facial recognition technology at a commercial complex centered around JR Osaka Station is raising eyebrows over privacy concerns.
The two-year project, which starts in April, will use 90 cameras to track selected individuals for about a week as they pass through Osaka Station City, one of the largest commercial facilities in western Japan.
The government-affiliated National Institute of Information and Communications Technology will conduct the test to verify the accuracy of the technology in cooperation with West Japan Railway Co. and Osaka Terminal Building Co., operator of Osaka Station City.
Under the plan, 100 or so characteristics of an individual’s face, such as the width between the eyes, will be processed using camera footage. The collected information will then be assigned a specific ID number. Each camera is capable of gathering information simultaneously from the faces of dozens of people within a 3-meter-square area.
Xinhua calls for a halt elsewhere in Asia:
Pakistan demands complete halt to U.S. drone strikes
Pakistan said Thursday it wanted complete halt to the American drone attacks instead of decrease in the frequency.
The comments from the Foreign Office spokesperson Tasnim Aslam came after U.S. media reported that the Obama administration has sharply curtailed drone strikes in Pakistan after a request from the government there for restraint as it pursues peace talks with the Pakistani Taliban.
Talks between the negotiators from the Taliban-named team and Pakistan government started in Islamabad on Thursday to explore ways to end bloodshed in the country.
Xinhua again, with talks underway:
Pakistani gov’t, Taliban negotiators call for end to violence
Negotiators nominated by the Pakistani Taliban and Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif for peace talks called for an end to all “violent actions” to push the peace process forward after their first meeting in Islamabad on Thursday.
Both sides agreed to hold talks within the Constitution of Pakistan and continue the dialogue process, said a joint statement issued at a press briefing after the meeting.
“All actions that could be harmful for peace and security should be stopped,” the statement said.
Mission Impossible hardware from Military & Aerospace Electronics:
IBM and PARC to design sensitive electronics for military that shatter to dust on command
Two U.S. companies are joining a military research program to develop sensitive electronic components able to self-destruct on command to keep them out of the hands of potential adversaries who would attempt to counterfeit them for their own use.
PARC, a Xerox company in Palo Alto, Calif., and IBM Corp. in Armonk, N.Y., are joining the Vanishing Programmable Resources (VAPR) program of the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA).
Last Friday DARPA awarded a $2.1 million contract to PARC, and a $3.5 million contract to IBM for the VAPR program, which seeks to develop transient electronics that can physically disappear in a controlled, triggerable manner.
From The Guardian, a blast from the past:
Thatcher received warning about CIA’s activities in UK, secret file reveals
Paddy Ashdown raised fears in 1984 about clandestine approaches made by US agents but allegations were dismissed
Margaret Thatcher was warned that the CIA did not always give sufficient advance notice when it carried out operations in Britain, a secret file released on Friday shows.
Paddy Ashdown, a Liberal MP, complained to Thatcher about the US intelligence organisation’s activities in the UK in November 1984.
Ashdown was worried about clandestine approaches made by US agents to British computer firms in this country and abroad to prevent eastern bloc countries obtaining western computer secrets by stealth.
GlobalPost takes it online:
Mexico’s vigilantes and cartels battle it out on social media
Twitter, Facebook and YouTube have become as essential to the warriors’ arsenal as assault rifles, rakish garb and macho swagger.
With all the worldwide fascination it’s attracting, the armed conflict in Mexico’s western state of Michoacan may seem as violent as that of Syria or Afghanistan.
It’s not.
The carnage from what’s now considered the front of Mexico’s gangland wars has been relatively light. Killings and injuries have tallied in the dozens, at most, since the region flared up in recent months. That’s amid seven years of war that’s left more than 100,000 people dead or disappeared.
Still, photos, videos and text feeds from the “war” in Michoacan’s Tierra Caliente, or Hot Country, have multiplied exponentially in recent months as the so-called self-defense militias have wrested control of town after town from the Knights Templar gang.
PCWorld gets stung:
One in three victims of Target card breach could face fraud
One in three data breach victims in 2013 later experienced fraud, according to a survey released Wednesday, a sharp increase that doesn’t bode well for millions of Target shoppers.
That’s up from one in four in 2012, according to Javelin Research, which polled 5,634 U.S. adults over three weeks last October about financial fraud incidents.
“The correlation between a fraud victim and a breach victim gets stronger every year,” said Al Pascual, senior analyst for security risk and fraud, who co-authored the report.
Target said on Dec. 19 up to 40 million credit and debit cards may have been compromised between Nov. 27 and Dec. 15, the busiest shopping period of the year. It later said malicious software was installed on its point-of-sale devices, which harvested unencrypted payment card details.
SecurityWeek embarrasses:
Syrian Electronic Army Claims Control Over Facebook.Com Domain
The Sryrian Electronic Army claimed control over the domain Facebook.com Wednesday night, likely through hacking into the domain administrator account at the social network’s domain registrar.
In a Tweet Wednesday evening, the hackers wished Mark Zuckerberg a happy birthday, along with an extra note: “Happy Birthday Mark! Facebook.com owned by #SEA,” the Tweet read.
The domain information below is what showed as of 6:35 EST. The hackers appeared to modify the three primary registrant contacts, though the domain name servers did not appear to have been modified.
And for our final entry, security perils on four wheels from Forbes:
This iPhone-Sized Device Can Hack A Car, Researchers Plan To Demonstrate
Auto makers have long downplayed the threat of hacker attacks on their cars and trucks, arguing that their vehicles’ increasingly-networked systems are protected from rogue wireless intrusion. Now two researchers plan to show that a few minutes alone with a car and a tiny, cheap device can give digital saboteurs all the wireless control they need.
At the Black Hat Asia security conference in Singapore next month, Spanish security researchers Javier Vazquez-Vidal and Alberto Garcia Illera plan to present a small gadget they built for less than $20 that can be physically connected to a car’s internal network to inject malicious commands affecting everything from its windows and headlights to its steering and brakes. Their tool, which is about three-quarters the size of an iPhone, attaches via four wires to the Controller Area Network or CAN bus of a vehicle, drawing power from the car’s electrical system and waiting to relay wireless commands sent remotely from an attacker’s computer. They call their creation the CAN Hacking Tool, or CHT.
“It can take five minutes or less to hook it up and then walk away,” says Vazquez Vidal, who works as a automobile IT security consultant in Germany. “We could wait one minute or one year, and then trigger it to do whatever we have programmed it to do.”
