Stefan is an experienced security researcher based in Bucharest, Romania. Having spent the last 10 years of his career combating the world’s most sophisticated cyber threats, Stefan joined Ixia in 2017 as a Principal Security Researcher. Through innovative research projects and effective public speaking engagements, he actively contributes to keeping internet users safe. While Stefan specializes in collecting threat intelligence and monitoring the cybercrime ecosystem, he has a real passion for digital rights and internet privacy.

Drive safely on the internet lane: how smart cars can leak your data

As “smart” is becoming the new standard for everything, malicious threat actors are quick to capitalize on the insecurity of IoT devices. Hackers getting into your computer and spying on you is not something new for the average internet user, but definitely an emerging threat in the world of cars. Given a relatively new car (2014) with an infotainment system completely decoupled from the car’s backbone (ignition, lights and such), we discovered sensitive personal information being stored completely in the clear. We were able to extract the call logs, text messages and phone agenda from all the connected mobile devices. More worryingly, the navigation system logs were left without any obfuscation, enabling a malicious attacker to track the position of the car in real time, when it’s near open wifi networks.
Presentation’s Co-Presenter is Gabriel Cirlig, Software Engineer at Ixia, a Keysight business.