Cars that won’t start because the breathalyzers connected to the ignition refuse to work. This happened in the United States, where one of the main companies producing such devices, Intoxalock by Consumer Safety Technology LLC, was severely hit by a cyberattack.
INTOXALOCK BREATHALYZERS GO DOWN
The app (here is its page on the Play Store) for the Alcolocks, which can be installed on the dashboard by judicial order (just as happens in Italy following the recent amendments to the Highway Code), went haywire.
It is not clear whether the Iowa-based company disconnected the various devices for safety reasons, or if it was the illicit action attributable to a group of hackers, whose identity has not been revealed, that remotely blocked the operation of thousands upon thousands of vehicle breathalyzers. Similarly, the type of attack carried out by the cybercriminals does not seem to have been disclosed.
The fact remains that the consequence was disastrous and documented on social media by American drivers who gradually reported malfunctions of Intoxalock devices, documenting the impossibility of starting their cars, with consequences anyone can imagine (some even discovered this in the middle of the night, for example).
WHAT HAPPENED
According to Intoxalock’s spokesperson, the cyberattack was launched at 9 a.m. on March 14. Since the devices require repeated calibration procedures and an almost continuous connection to the servers to prevent tampering by anyone attempting to bypass them, the lack of response from the “central brain” caused the breathalyzers to deny the green light to the car control units on which they were installed.
A stalemate solution that, users report via forums and social media, was resolved only around 5:30 p.m. on Sunday, March 22, when Intoxalock’s servers were secured and calibrations unlocked. No consequences, however, for Italian motorists since Intoxalock Ignition Interlock is not among the devices authorized in Italy: the only two Alcolocks currently usable in our country are the Breatech Alcolock B1000 and the Zaldy Alcolock V3.
CARS “IN THE NET”
The issue could have repercussions on the sector and force manufacturers to rethink the operation of breathalyzers to avoid similar errors that, as easily understood, open the doors to possible class actions.
Also because the cyber intrusion exposed the weakness of a system that requires continuous connections to function properly: it does not take a hacker’s work for a network blackout to occur, and users must be free to drive their cars even in remote areas, perhaps not covered by an Internet signal.
