Amazon Key is another privacy lost when it comes to our cars
In-car parcel service open to exploitation by ‘black hat’ hackers, David Booth writes.
It’s probably a bellwether of exactly how much connectivity we consumers want from our cars.
It might be a game-changer for automakers looking to maximizing their cars’ connectedness.
But perhaps most significantly, it is yet another indication the once much-loved automobile is quickly becoming just another app to be connected to the internet of things in our quest for complete, 24-hour access.
I am talking about Amazon’s new Key In-Car Delivery service, which is similar in process, if not in detail, to the retail giant’s Key In-Home Delivery system. It will allow the company to deposit packages inside your car without the need for you to be present.
Essentially, Amazon’s cloud hooks up to your car’s cloud to temporarily allow access to your car — doors and trunk — so all your latest Prime purchases can be deposited therein. The service requires total access to your car, and Key In-Car will only be available on select General Motors vehicles with OnStar and Volvo vehicles with Volvo On Call.
The initial rollout is limited to the same 37 American cities served by the in-home service. That limitation is unlikely to last long, however.
The process is simple both to initiate and use. You download the Amazon app, load in your car’s information and then, when a package is to be delivered, the car’s GPS location device is sent to the courier, they verify your car’s license plate number and you are notified of the impending delivery.
Then, and only then, says Amazon, does GM or Volvo open your car door — it is the automaker that unlocks your car — and the package is inserted. Amazon then guarantees security by having the courier wait until the cloud once again locks your car before continuing on to the next delivery.
As secure as that process might seem, there has been more than a little online backlash, commenting on both the social ills and the security concerns Key In-Car might engender.
Hacking of cloud-based ser- vices is always an issue. Wired, for instance, has already noted Amazon’s similar home delivery system’s security camera has proven fallible. More important is the Amazon connection gives all those big, bad black-hat hackers we fear yet another portal to infiltrate you car’s computers.
Nor is Amazon’s access to your car likely to remain solely for package delivery. If the Key InHome system is to be eventually opened up to dog walkers and cleaning services as projected, there’s no reason to believe access to your car won’t eventually include mechanics and detailing services.
According to a CNBC op-ed, the popularity of this service depends as much on the trust consumers have in Amazon as our belief in security systems.
As for your somewhat securityconscious scribe, I’ll just say that as someone who travels a lot — and who is constantly riven with paranoia that I have forgotten to lock my door — I have long contemplated installing an Amazonlike internet-based locking mechanism in my house.
If — or when — I do take the plunge, however, I will do so only if I can back it up with a good oldfashioned manual deadbolt.
Maybe that’s not realistic. Maybe it’s not even effective.
But it is how much I trust the internet.