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9 of the scariest hacks we've seen this summer endanger more than your computer
Nothing was safe from hackers this summer.
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From cars and gas stations to phones and hospital equipment, hackers got very creative finding new vulnerabilities to exploit. And the summer isn't even over yet.
Here's a look at nine of the most frightening hacks we've seen so far.
Fiat Chrysler was prompted to recall some 1.4 million cars after hackers exposed a major security vulnerability in the UConnect feature, which enables phone calls, controls entertainment and navigation, and powers a Wi-Fi hotspot.
Hackers were able to use Uconnect’s cellular connection to find out the car’s IP address and gain access from anywhere in the country.
Hackers were able to gain access to the chip controlling entertainment and rewrite the firmware to implant code to take over things like the engine and brakes.
A nasty Android vulnerability called "Stagefright" was made public in July.
With almost 1 billion Android devices affected, security researchers were quick to call it one of the biggest smartphone security flaws ever.
Google rolled out a patch, but because hardware manufacturers must first implement it before it can go to consumers, there's a good chance that millions of devices are still exposed.
For the first time, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warned healthcare facilities to stop using a device because of cyber concerns.
There was a vulnerability discovered in Hospira's Symbiq medication infusion pump, which is a computerized pump designed to deliver drugs to patients automatically. Hospitals and other healthcare facilities were warned to stop using the device.
Mozilla warned users during the first week of August of a FireFox exploit discovered in the wild that can search and steal files from computers without the owner ever knowing.
Mozilla said that the vulnerability only affected desktop versions of the browser, and urged users to update their software. A fix was rolled out in Firefox 39.0.3 and in Firefox ESR 38.1.1.
Even Apple, who is known for having some of the most secure devices, was hit with a major security headache when it was revealed hackers were exploiting a vulnerability called DYLD.
Researchers found that hackers were able to install malicious applications on a victim's computer by taking advantage of the security hole, which was found in Apple's latest error-logging feature in the Mac OS X 10.10.
Apple reportedly worked quickly to fix the bug.
The 29-year-old hacker Samy Kamkar built a device that could take over GM cars that have the OnStar system.
Kamkar was able to build the device, which he dubbed the "OwnStar" system, for about $100.
The gadget enabled Kamkar to do basically everything that an OnStar system does, including locate, unlock and start the car using the gadget. To use the device, all he had to do was attach it to the car he wanted to target.
A GM spokesperson told Tech Insider it has since fixed the issue.
Using parts purchased online for about $30, Kamkar also built a device that can be used to break into just about any car or garage that uses keyless entry.
All a hacker has to do is place the wallet-size device on the targeted car to extract the necessary data to open the unlock the car anytime.
Two security researchers from Trend Micro revealed that gas stations are increasingly becoming a target of cybercrime.
The researchers conducted an experiment to track hackers targeting gas pumps around the world and found that the US gas stations were most at risk.
The computerized systems at gas pumps could be breached to extract all sorts of data about the pump. And in some cases hackers could manipulate the pump data to possibly cause an explosion.
A scary vulnerability in cellular-capable car dongles enables hackers to take control over certain functions in cars, including car brakes and the windshield wipers.
Security researchers used a Corvette to demo how to exploit the vulnerability, but they said that the exploit could work on almost any car using the car dongles.
The car dongle the researchers used was one produced by Mobile Devices and distributed by Metromile. Metromile has since disabled the cellular capabilities in its devices.
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