KeriBlog

Cars, Security and a Peek into my Life

Delete your Phone from a Car

Unpair your phone from rental, friend’s and relative’s cars, because until you do, your contacts database is driving around.

Would anything bad actually come from leaving it?  Probably not. In the same way, if you left a copy of your contacts on a USB key * at your friend’s house, it’d probably be fine too. But why do that.

Some infotainment systems can save more than one phone. This one saves 4.

Alena is clearly the most popular.

Don’t name your phone your name. Here’s why.

 

 (* if you say, ‘I use FB for my contacts list’, please leave my blog)

 

 

Paired my Phone to a Car for the First Time

Ever.

Why never

I don’t think Chrysler (or any manufacturer) is going to do anything nefarious with my information, nor will the following auto journalists to test this car, but…

1 – Your contacts database is one of your most precious files, and ideally, you have a copy on an external drive, that’s been backed up in the last couple weeks (if you say you store all your contacts in Facebook, please leave my blog.) So why be careless about where that file ends up?

2 – I don’t know what information the car copies, then saves, from my phone. Nor do I know that the data is fully deleted when I un-pair the phone. Not-knowing means not-happening.

3 – I’m still undecided if I trust the cloud, and so I don’t use it. And pairing the car means I’ve dipped my toe into the cloud.

4 – pairing usually requires Bluetooth, which I don’t use. I’ve been attacked via Bluetooth before, so I quit using it (that’s why you never see me anymore, in my beloved hands-free headsets)

So why now?

I’m conducting a test for an upcoming ‘Keri on Driving‘ column…

The test is: automakers say we’re now able to fully control our car, without removing our hands from the wheel. Okay then, let’s see.

I set up for success and chose Chrysler because their ‘UConnect’ infotainment system is one of the best available.

How I paired it

I did not pair my own phone, not a chance.

Instead, I got a pre-paid SIM card from TELUS (talk & text only, no data), and put it in the Android they gave me. I saved the contacts I chat most with, and fired it up.

What happened

1 – the car now has saved all my contacts list, and my call history 
2 – the car can now access my text messages, and can send as me

So to word it dramatically – the car now knows all your friends, whom you speak with most, and can text them. This is why you always delete your phone from a rental car, and don’t name your phone your name.

Because a possible attack: return the rental car > next guy gets in > your phone is your name > look up home address for that name > guy now knows where you are not

That’s pretty high-level, and the guy would have to be quite skilled, but still, why chance it.

Let the test begin

Figured out voice command navigation this afternoon, and how to send texts but only using the screen (think I’m doing something wrong there), audio is easy, and not sure if climate controls are even a possibility…

How nice did this photo turn out

When it launched, I reviewed this car for the paper, click here.

Short review – the 200 went from barely competing, to the one to compete against.

 

Delete your Phone from the Rental Car

Otherwise, the next renter sees something like above.

When you pair your phone to a car, your contacts are stored

Contacts plus I don’t know what else.  I tried to write a column about it during the winter, but couldn’t find barely any documentation about what information is saved… lots on how to connect a phone, almost none about what’s there, and how to clear it.

It was weird actually, like I’d found a hole in the internet.

Those are all my phone names, in order:

– BlackBerry
– iPhone (security through obscurity)
– Samsung Galaxy SIII

It’s a 2013 Dodge Dart, click here for my review.

 

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