Cars Become Target for Identity Theft as Shopping Hits Dashboard
- Automakers have proven an easy hacking target this summer
- Ordering a Starbucks macchiato with dashboard `buy buttons'
Hackers can already take control of a car. And as vehicles become rolling shopping malls, cybercriminals will have an opportunity to snatch your identity, too.
Eager for a cut of drivers’ purchases of fast food, gas and more, automakers have big plans to bring e-commerce to the dashboard. Ford Motor Co. already has an app that lets drivers dictate an order to Domino’s Pizza using voice controls and a smartphone. General Motors Co. this year began offering AtYourService, which alerts drivers to deals at Dunkin’ Donuts or lets them book a hotel room on Priceline.com using voice commands. By 2020, as many as 40 percent of new vehicles sold worldwide will let drivers shop from behind the wheel, predicts Thilo Koslowski, vice president of the auto practice at Gartner.