Connected cars vulnerable to hackers 'for a decade'

Connected cars will be vulnerable to hackers for a decade, according to leading tech security expert Eugene Kaspersky.

Founder of Kaspersky Lab, the former Soviet intelligence officer told the Financial Times that today’s connected cars are “more safe but less secure”, because of their networked safety sensors, telematics, GPS trackers, internet connections and phone-syncing technology.

While hackers find “more and more methods to attack private cars,” it will take years for governments and carmakers to implement countermeasures, he said.

“For a long period of time the cars will be vulnerable,” he said, adding that it could take up to a decade.

Research group Gartner has predicted that by 2020, 250 million vehicles will be directly connected to the internet. Last year, Wired magazine reported two instances of hackers remotely hijacking control of connected cars, driving one into a ditch.