Authorities from Denmark are urgently studying methods to seal an seeming protection gap in hundreds of Chinese-made electric buses that permits them to be shut down from a distance.
Probe Prompted by Discoveries in Neighboring Country
This inquiry comes after public transit officials in Norway, where these electric buses are also in service, determined that the manufacturer from China had online connectivity for system upgrades and diagnostics to the vehicles’ control systems – which may be manipulated to disrupt transit while operating.
“Our examination exposed threats that we are now addressing,” commented the head of the public transport authority. “Government and municipal authorities have been notified and must assist with extra steps at a national level.”
Proposed Solution and Its Drawbacks
Their investigations revealed that remote deactivation could be avoided by extracting the buses’ mobile chips, but they have avoided this step because it would also disconnect the bus from other systems.
- Stricter security requirements for future procurements
- Moving ahead of the deployment of next generation of buses
- Getting ready for vehicles that could be more integrated and harder to secure
Scale of the Problem in Denmark
The major Denmark public transport company runs nearly 470 electric buses from China, with over 260 of these produced by Yutong.
“Electric transports – just as electric cars – can be shut down remotely if their operating programs have online access,” stated a senior operations executive. “This isn't just a China-made vehicle problem. It is a problem for every kind of vehicles and devices with electronics from China incorporated.”
Government Evaluation and Warnings
Government bodies for public safety and crisis response indicated that it was had no knowledge of any specific cases in which electric buses had been shut down, but advised that the vehicles were equipped with “component networks with internet connectivity and detection devices (imaging devices, microphones, location tracking) that can represent weaknesses which could be used to interrupt bus operations”.
Manufacturer Response and Information Security
The manufacturer declared it “fully adheres with governing rules and commercial guidelines” and that vehicle terminal data in the EU were kept at a data center in Frankfurt.
“The information is used only for transport servicing, improvement and improvement to meet post-purchase service demands,” noted a official speaker. “The data is safeguarded with storage encryption and security protocols. Nobody is permitted to view this data without client approval.”
Political Response and Worries
An elected official stated that Denmark has been “much too sluggish” when it came to dependency regarding Chinese companies.
“This represents a major issue. We should not be so reliant upon a country that has principles and beliefs so unlike Denmark,” he continued. At a time when Denmark was trying to increase its durability amid accusations of hybrid attacks by Russia, “it's hardly robust to be completely reliant on China”.
Transportation authorities in Norway chose not to respond on the matter.
