Researchers drove a NIO ES8 electric SUV deep into a Norwegian underground mine specifically to sever its external connections. The car kept attempting to reach servers, most of them located in China. These findings echo broader concerns about hidden data collection, similar to how a surveillance app was built to covertly target users without their knowledge.
That finding sits at the center of Project Lion Cage, a multi-year study initiated in 2022 by Tor Indstøy, a risk management and threat intelligence executive at Telenor Group. Indstøy purchased the NIO ES8 as a dedicated research platform.
The project arrives as Chinese EV brands expand across European markets with assurances about local data processing. Observed network behavior appears to contradict those assurances.
Obviously it would keep calling…
The point was likely to see what would happen if they could be 100% sure it couldn’t connect in anyway.
Before deciding if it’s worth attempting to find every conney, you need to verify what happens if you did succeed.
Like, finding out it bricks every vehicle after 24 hrs means it’s useless to bother and they need banned.
Like the Polish trains that were remotely disabled when taken in at a competitor’s maintenance shop https://hackaday.com/2023/12/14/polish-train-manufacturer-threatens-hackers-who-unbricked-their-trains/
I have Chinese manufactured IP cameras. they do not connect to the internet. yet, they still attempt to connect to Chinese servers at least once a minute.
this has been going on for at least 15 years.
they do not connect to the internet. yet, they still attempt to connect to Chinese servers
Via?
Chinese ev bus behaves like every John Deere tractor, Tesla, amazon ring doorbell, windows pc, mac, smart tv, iphone and android device , and probably every other car made since 2020.
“But China bad” is getting pretty old and frail in comparison to the domestic and international predations and privacy invasions of US tech businesses and government
“But China bad” is getting pretty old and frail in comparison to the domestic and international predations and privacy invasions of US tech businesses and government
ah, the “DON’T CRITICIZE CHINA” is getting even fucking older and frailer in comparison.
Especially when it says right in the article that its doing the exact opposite of what was promised.
Which, if any other countries product was doing that, you’d have a fit over it and not be sitting there going having a big whinge fest about the unfair persecution.
DON’T CRITICIZE CHINA
We put a machine with a radio in a room and the radio continued to try and function.
This is why we cannot import low priced, high quality foreign made electric engines.
if any other countries product was doing that, you’d have a fit
Why? It’s the same tired story, used to scare people who know nothing about communications technology. It’s all about making “Buy American” a national security issue.
If Brazil or Italy or even the dreaded Russia was being accused of this, why wouldn’t we stare sideways?
its doing the exact opposite of what was promised
I mean, remind me again why I’m trusting autos.yahoo.com on their reporting? Isn’t Yahoo a subsidiary of Apollo Global Management, a company with deep ties to the Epstein human trafficking cartel?
A couple things, you are absolutely correct about the hypocrisy. All modern major manufacturers are doing the same thing. Calling out China without mentioning this is definitely a disservice.
On the invasion of privacy through spying, China is undoubtedly the worst followed by the US and Russia.
When it comes international predations I think you are correct. The US is the worst. Russia next then Israel and China. France and Germany probably fit in here somewhere as well with the selling of arms around the world.
Your ranking is missing the top spot. Here is the revised list
- US corporations
- Chinese government
- US government …
I think the damage US corporations have done is truly unparalleled. When it comes to big tech China still pales in comparison in the Western world. That is until you consider Tik Tok, which is the most influential of social media for the under 30 market. Is Tik Tok really a bad influence or better or worse than something like Facebook is very debatable as well.
That is until you consider Tik Tok
Wasn’t the big concern with TikTok entirely around how people were talking about the Palestine Genocide while US controlled social media had effectively blacked it out?
China is undoubtedly the worst followed by the US and Russia.
I doubt it. Russia doesn’t have the infrastructure or the manpower to compete with a modern surveillance state. And the US doesn’t operate alone, it’s part of the Five Eyes network, including Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom. Nevermind NISRF.
Part of what makes the US network horrifying is how many other countries are blithely along for the ride.
No shit? A communist country that has more camera than people, tracks all communication, and blocks the Internet/all major apps from their entire countrys cars they manufactured track everything you do… I’m so shocked /s
These people that cry about wanting Chinese EVs in the US are the same people that cry when they have thermal runaway, no warranty, and are built cutting every corner possible. I fucking hate Trump, but in case in hate to say he’s right.
All of that has nothing to do with communism. China isn’t even communist.
My BMW checking if my bmw subscription is active when I’m trying to enable seat heater
I wonder what the security is like. I’d love to know how difficult it would be to set up a mock-service to just tell it you have everything.
You’d expect there to be encryption and some kind of certificate validation to check the response is trustworthy, but given what we now know about the CAN bus that many cars use, and how vulnerable it is to attack, it suggests the motor industry is way behind the times in terms of security.
It would just be easier to wire it directly to a switch.
The car kept attempting to reach servers
To the surprise of whom?
ANY device that relies on radio signal communication for any of its functionality, taken anywhere (underground mine, parking garage, Antarctica, Santa’s workshop, etc), and it’ll try to maintain it’s connections. That’s just what they do.
Okay, but China Bad
I’d like to not be spied on. But if forced to choose, I would rather be spied on by a foreign goverment than a domestic one.
Why? At least with a domestic government you can vote and lobby for data controls. GDPR, etc.
Why on Earth wouldn’t it keep trying? That’s how signals work. If my router goes down my computer is going to keep trying to connect to it even though it’s off. That’s not fucking news.
