The Day A Radio Station Bricked A Lot Of Mazdas

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

Two years ago, somebody at a Seattle radio station broadcast some digital files without extensions. That destroyed the information systems in some of the Mazda cars that were tuned to 94.9 FM.

[FlyingClayDisk]

Hmmmmmm....

Lot's of comments spinning around inside the ol' hamster wheel 'upstairs' on this one.

1. This is yet another example of society's growing dependence on technology which isn't necessarily required, but winds up becoming a necessity by virtue of its very existence.  Put a different way, it's technology which we didn't ask for, which seemed harmless enough, so we allowed it into our lives without realizing the potential downsides.  These types of things can have two broad categories of negative outcomes.  One of them is technological, and the other is human.  I need only cite one example...cash registers.  Yeah, there's a million other examples, but everyone will 'get' this one.  When was the last time you saw anyone able to count back change in a cash sale???  People just can't do it anymore, some because they're lazy, but even more because they don't actually know how.  That last one is an example of negative human outcomes.  So now, when the power goes off, merchants are instantly paralyzed...for no logical reason...other than the fact no one can count.  Again, there's a billion other examples (i.e. ATM machines, computerized-everything, etc.)  Seems harmless enough, convenient even, until it becomes absolutely mission critical (when it doesn't need to be) and brings modern society to its collective knees when it doesn't work.

2. As small form factor computers become more and more powerful, and corporations become more and more greedy, how long will it be before they start consolidating more and more systems under the hood of a single CPU?  Fortunately, in the Mazda example of the OP, the radio CPU was air-gapped from the ignition system, but what happens when someone decides to try to save a buck and combine the two?  "Bad Ju-Ju" is the answer.

3. In today's age, information is power.  Information has always been power, but today it's at a premium because of all the complicated electronics running things.  The "bad guys" of the world realize this, and have every intention of taking advantage of it.  We see it almost weekly anymore with reports of Denial of Service attacks.  Just look at what happened with the massive Kronos timekeeping system hack of 2021.  Fully 3.5 years, YEARS, later there are still countless businesses who have still not recovered.  Entire Cities were crippled by this ransom-ware attack, and Cities like Baltimore, Denver and others, are still struggling with it.  This, after paying billions of dollars in ransom money.  So, what's society's solution?  Answer: Put even more electronic devices out there!  (Note:  Probably the wrong answer).  The recent Crowdstrike meltdown is another example.  It wasn't a hack, but rather a botched patch from Microsoft.  Regardless, it bricked millions upon millions of computers to the point they wouldn't even boot up...AT ALL!  And, to fix it, every single piece of hardware (i.e. computer) running Microsoft had to be touched; the fix could not be rolled out remotely, so a person had to go to every single computer in an enterprise running Crowdstrike and load a file physically on the machine.  Our enterprise is around 38,000 machines, so that was hundreds of people for several days going around and loading a tiny little file on every single computer to fix a bricked box.  Knees...meet floor!

4.  Now let's look at the source.  A radio station in this case.  We already live in an environment full to the gills with regulation; we don't need and don't want more...regulation, right?  But at the same time, we are now being bombarded with electronic data from more directions than ever before.  Networks, Bluetooth, radio, WiFi, microwave, HDTV, and the list goes on.  Every day some new technology emerges, and our mentality is "wireless everything is better".  So, with this ever increasing bombardment from all directions, how can we possibly expect LESS and not more regulation when things like the Mazda incident can happen?  Sure, it was just a car radio and some collateral features...this time.  BUT...

What will it be next time?

5.  Lastly, and then there's Artificial Intelligence (AI).  We've already seen how it can run amok.  Why?  Because it has to draw its information from somewhere, and this 'somewhere' is the Interwebz, which is the single largest repository of data on planet Earth...but not all of it is correct / right.  In fact, as we all know, much of the Internet is straight-up wrong (misinformation, biased information, etc.).  When we throw AI into this big ol' bucket of goo, well, then we could (and likely will) wind up with a mess which humans are not even capable of fixing because computers are doing the thinking for us.  What then?

Pull the plug???

I honestly don't think pulling the plug is an option anymore for large segments of society today.  For those people I feel truly sorry.  On...your...knees!

The Mazda incident is just the tip of the iceberg, folks.  Just the tip of the iceberg.

[Lynyrd Skynyrd]

You make a number of interesting points. I just watched a car repair video where an older electric Fiat was bricked, and Fiat couldn't help him, so the mechanic had only one option.

He found a single independent company in Bulgaria that was able to repair and reprogram the battery control unit. 
​​​​
Many new cars are unrepairable without expensive and hard-to-find factory replacement modules.

[ArMaP]

3. In today's age, information is power.  Information has always been power, but today it's at a premium because of all the complicated electronics running things.  The "bad guys" of the world realize this, and have every intention of taking advantage of it.  We see it almost weekly anymore with reports of Denial of Service attacks.  Just look at what happened with the massive Kronos timekeeping system hack of 2021.  Fully 3.5 years, YEARS, later there are still countless businesses who have still not recovered.  Entire Cities were crippled by this ransom-ware attack, and Cities like Baltimore, Denver and others, are still struggling with it.  This, after paying billions of dollars in ransom money.  So, what's society's solution?  Answer: Put even more electronic devices out there!  (Note:  Probably the wrong answer).

The problem for cases like that is that the answer should have been given before the problem: backups.
If they had recent backups they just needed to restore those backups (after "cleaning" the computers) and would be back to normal (or almost, depending on the age of the last backup) in a couple of days (depending on the amount of data to restore).

One big problem with all today's "information society" is that few people make backups of that information, so when something bad happens (and it's mostly a question of "when", not "if") they are left looking at what used to be important and now is nothing.

5.  Lastly, and then there's Artificial Intelligence (AI).  We've already seen how it can run amok.  Why?  Because it has to draw its information from somewhere, and this 'somewhere' is the Interwebz, which is the single largest repository of data on planet Earth...but not all of it is correct / right.  In fact, as we all know, much of the Internet is straight-up wrong (misinformation, biased information, etc.).  When we throw AI into this big ol' bucket of goo, well, then we could (and likely will) wind up with a mess which humans are not even capable of fixing because computers are doing the thinking for us.  What then?

Pull the plug???

Depending on the use, AI can use unfiltered data from the Internet or not. Relying on unfiltered data is asking for trouble, but it gives results faster (and cheaper).

Using a new technology just because it's new is always a danger, we should use it like it is, a tool for doing something, not for doing everything for us.

[CCoburn]

1. This is yet another example of society's growing dependence on technology which isn't necessarily required, but winds up becoming a necessity by virtue of its very existence.  Put a different way, it's technology which we didn't ask for, which seemed harmless enough, so we allowed it into our lives without realizing the potential downsides.  These types of things can have two broad categories of negative outcomes.  One of them is technological, and the other is human.  I need only cite one example...cash registers.  Yeah, there's a million other examples, but everyone will 'get' this one.  When was the last time you saw anyone able to count back change in a cash sale???  People just can't do it anymore, some because they're lazy, but even more because they don't actually know how.  That last one is an example of negative human outcomes.  So now, when the power goes off, merchants are instantly paralyzed...for no logical reason...other than the fact no one can count.  Again, there's a billion other examples (i.e. ATM machines, computerized-everything, etc.)  Seems harmless enough, convenient even, until it becomes absolutely mission critical (when it doesn't need to be) and brings modern society to its collective knees when it doesn't work.

This has actually been a prominent factor in my life lately which relates more or less to the above. Mostly in the context of quick-stops, but not always:

1. Transactions need to be kept simple. More than one operation per transaction increases the likelihood for fuck-ups. Put two twenties down on the counter for a Five Hour, eight quarters for air, a little ice from the dispenser(usually free), and the rest in gas – forget about it. Just a typical example, although most times it's closer to 20-25 in gas whenever I go anywhere. These types of transactions are better served broken up into bite-sized pieces so they don't choke on it. The "rest in gas" does seem to be an occasional problem, so I don't even bother with that anymore, and I don't even bother with giving them extra pennies on dollars anymore (so I don't get any back) because of that occasional "deer in the headlights" look. I'll just do one simple gas transaction next time so I can get rid of all this change. I dislike having a pocketful of change for a number of reasons.

Maybe I'm exaggerating slightly to make a point, but it's close enough for me to always be wary of it on some level.

2. A new credit union that I have a loan with doesn't know shit about the details of their loans; not even the loan officer. I just resigned and figured it out myself - some of it was interest and principal only payment stuff.

Mostly just stupid stuff, like that worthless piece of paper Best Buy used to give me when I paid on my card. All it said was how much money I just gave them? Well duh. I guess a balance would be asking a bit much – that's all done at headquarters.