Tel aviv: Israeli companies are using advanced cyber tools to hack into digital systems of cars to spy on people inside and track the vehicle's movement, Haaretz newspaper said on Tuesday.
According to Anadolu Agency, these tools can assist in cross-referencing data to identify an intelligence target among tens of thousands of cars on the road. An investigation by the paper found that at least three Israeli firms operate a system called CARINT (car intelligence), which uses data generated by connected vehicles for surveillance.
One of these companies, Toka, has developed an 'offensive' tool that taps into a car's microphones and cameras to collect information. This company was co-founded by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former army cyber chief Brig. Gen. Yaron Rosen. Its cyber tool is used to access a specific vehicle's multimedia systems, pinpoint its location, and track its movements. This tool can remotely access the microphone of the car's hands-free system, enabling eavesdropping on the driver, and tapping into cameras installed on the dashboard or around the car.
Another Israeli firm, Rayzone, has developed a vehicle surveillance tool to track cars based on advertising data that is commercially available online, without the need to hack into a device. Its CARINT tool, sold through the company's new subsidiary TA9, feeds the data it collects from a car into a system that provides Rayzone's clients with full intelligence coverage of the target under surveillance. By analyzing location data and travel patterns, the technology allows governments to track targets using the SIM cards installed in the car while monitoring the vehicle's wireless and Bluetooth communications. The technology also cross-references with roadside cameras to identify license plates and other data possessed by government agencies. This is part of a wider trend in which cyber intelligence firms are fusing data, not just collecting it.
A third Israeli company, Ateros, is utilizing another intelligence tool through its sister company Netline to interface with government systems to identify license plates, and cross-reference them with data collected by more classic means like cellular communications and other government-linked capabilities. This CARINT tool can interface with Netline's signals-intelligence product Onyx, which can also collect intelligence from internet-connected vehicles. According to the daily, one of the many Netline sensors that feed Ateros' intelligence products can be found in the tire. Each tire has a unique identifier that continuously transmits pressure data to the car's central processor. This creates a kind of fingerprint that Ateros' system uses to identify a specific vehicle. The joint offering by Ateros and Netline is as much about AI-driven data fusion as it is about data collection.
Intelligence industry sources indicated that Elta, the cyber subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, is also developing a CARINT product, though the firm declined to comment. Haaretz commented that in recent decades, cars have become smart devices, a collection of computers on wheels with dozens of digital systems, and the vehicle cannot properly function without an internet or cellular connection. While this vastly improves the driving experience, it also severely risks privacy and has become a national security threat.