Skip to footer

Lexus remotely updates software, crashes navigation: Is a cyberattack to blame?

Lexus' parent company, Toyota, is still trying to get to the root of the problem. It could be due to an issue with the code, but more alarming is the possibility that Lexus has been the target of a cyberattack.

|
Gene J. Puskar/AP/File
This is the Lexus logo on display at the Pittsburgh International Auto Show in Pittsburgh.

For today's car-owners, over-the-air updates are a great thing--except when they aren't. Some Lexus owners have learned that the hard way, thanks to a software update that's been crashing vehicles' navigation systems.

Reports about the problem vary, but several owners complain that it's bricked the nav service in their cars. The system on Lexus RX 350 vehicles appears to start up, then switches to a purple screen before rebooting. Other reports say that vehicles' radios have been affected. 

Lexus' parent company, Toyota, is still trying to get to the root of the problem. It could be due to an issue with the code--perhaps the navigation system's internal software, or perhaps a few lines of code that conflict with another device.

More alarming is the possibility that Lexus has been the target of a cyberattack. One Toyota spokesperson, Cindy Knight, told Bloomberg that satellite communications to Lexus vehicles' navigation systems "had been disrupted". Knight didn't go into detail about the incident, but we'd expect more information about any potential breach over the next few days. Even if the problem weren't caused by hackers, we assume that Lexus will soon harden its communications system.

Also uncertain is the fix for these vehicles. It's possible that Lexus may be able to issue another over-the-air update to make things right. However, if a cyberattack is to blame--or even potentially to blame--it may be safer for owners to take their vehicles to Lexus dealers for repairs. 

At the moment, the only thing that's fairly clear is that Lexus' problem isn't limited to a particular geographic area. The automaker has received comments and complaints from owners in California, the Midwest, and the South.

For more on this story, visit our colleagues at Motor Authority.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.
editor@csmonitor.com
Subscribe
Mark Sappenfield
Editor

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

Subscribe to insightful journalism

QR Code to Lexus remotely updates software, crashes navigation: Is a cyberattack to blame?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Business/In-Gear/2016/0608/Lexus-remotely-updates-software-crashes-navigation-Is-a-cyberattack-to-blame
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe