Israeli firms use advanced cyber tools to spy on cars, track movement: Report

By Lina Altawell

ISTANBUL (AA) – Israeli companies are using advanced cyber tools to hack into digital systems of cars to spy on people inside and track the vehicle’s movement, Haaretz newspaper said on Tuesday.

“These tools can also assist in a cross-referencing of data to identify an intelligence target among tens of thousands of cars on the road,” the daily said.

An investigation by the paper found that at least three Israeli firms operate a system called CARINT (car intelligence), which uses data generated by connected vehicles for surveillance.

One of these companies, Toka, even developed an “offensive” tool that could tap into a car's microphones and cameras to collect information.

This company was co-founded by former Prime Minister Ehud Barak and former army cyber chief Brig. Gen. Yaron Rosen. Its cyber tool is used to access a specific vehicle's multimedia systems, pinpoint its location, and track its movements.

This tool can remotely access the microphone of the car’s hands-free system, allowing eavesdropping on the driver, and tapping into cameras installed on the dashboard or around the car.

- Data fusion

Another Israeli firm, Rayzone, has made a vehicle surveillance tool to track cars, based on advertising data that is commercially available online, without needing to hack into a device.

Its CARINT tool, which is sold through the company’s new subsidiary TA9, feeds the data it can collect from a car into a system that provides Rayzone's clients with "full intelligence coverage" of the target under surveillance.

“By analyzing location data and travel patterns, the technology allows governments to track targets using the SIM cards installed in the car while monitoring the vehicle's wireless and Bluetooth communications,” Haaretz said.

“The tech also cross-references with roadside cameras to identify license plates and other data possessed by government agencies. This is part of a wider trend in which cyber intelligence firms are ‘fusing’ data, not just collecting it.”

A third Israeli company, Ateros, is also using another intelligence tool through its sister company Netline to interface with government systems to identify license plates, and cross-reference them with data collected by more classic means like cellular communications and other government-linked capabilities.

This CARINT tool can interface with Netline's signals-intelligence product Onyx, which can also collect intelligence "from internet-connected vehicles," Haaretz said.

According to the daily, one of the many Netline sensors that feed Ateros' intelligence products can be found in the tire.

“Each tire has a unique identifier that continuously transmits pressure data to the car's central processor. This creates a kind of fingerprint that Ateros' system uses to identify a specific vehicle. The joint offering by Ateros and Netline is as much about AI-driven data fusion as it is about data collection.”

Intelligence industry sources said Elta, the cyber subsidiary of Israel Aerospace Industries, is also developing a CARINT product, though the firm declined to comment.

“In recent decades, our cars have become smart devices, a collection of computers on wheels with dozens of digital systems; the vehicle cannot properly function without an internet or cellular connection,” Haaretz commented.

“Though this vastly improves the driving experience, it also severely risks privacy and has become a national security threat.”