Beware! Hackers are eyeing your car’s safety features to extort money

Motoring experts have warned that hackers can exploit one's car by attacking the safety features to steal information, extort money or even control vehicles.

Edmund King, president of the AA, told the Times that cars today are connected to the internet 24 hours-a-day and if cyber criminals targeted automobiles like they were targeting other things they would be in for a hard and fast ride, the Independent reported.

King said the most dangerous development was the possibility of criminals hacking into safety systems, including cruise control and braking.

King added that ultimately there could be a terrorist-type threat to transport systems. Various experiments have shown it is possible to access a car's internal computer systems, known as the Controller Area Network (CAN), through a car radio or Bluetooth and wireless networks.

Researchers from Washington and California universities connected to a car's CAN via laptop were able to unlock doors, open the trunk, accelerate and brake, honk the horn, switch the headlights on and off, change the speedometer and fuel gauge and cause the car to swerve.