Last month, General Motors (GM) was forced to withdraw problematic units of its electric model Bolt due to the risk of ignition. And then the American company warned car owners about something very important – not to charge the batteries of their electric cars to 100%.
Normally this would not be a complicated thing to accomplish, but what if the charging station turns out to be hacked?
Last year, researchers at the Southwest Research Institute in Texas conducted an experiment in which they managed to hack the most popular charging system in North America. And the result was to test whether in that case the stations could be “made” to recharge the batteries. And their plan worked.
“It was an initiative to identify potential problems and gaps in the hardware chargers of charging stations. It was important because we are preparing for the rapid spread of electrical models in the next decade,” said lead researcher of the initiative Austin Dodson, quoted by the specialized site. OilPrice.
Weeks ago, a British company specializing in cybersecurity decided to do a similar test. The company Pen Test Partners identified important gaps in the large networks of charging stations in the country.
One problem is that millions of stations can be hacked at the same time, and the other is that user data can be “stolen” when loaded. They can also be used to steal electricity.
The more serious risk is that a whole network of hundreds or thousands of stations will be turned on or off by hackers at the same time. This will create big problems for the electrical network.
The electric car revolution will certainly not go smoothly. But experts warn that the topic of cybersecurity must be at the heart of the debate, although all these threats remain only potential. For now.
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