21/09/2026
As a business that owns a BYD Shark, we're fully aware of this article. Whilst the article isn't disingenuous, it is carefully worded to make it appear that this issue is unique to this car, or Chinese vehicles. It is not.
This risk exists on ALL connected vehicles. Now let's go into some detail here.
We don't have confirmation but "remote access" here likely means that the researcher clipped onto the car's CANbus network and listened to all the network traffic. After a few weeks they reverse engineered the ability to communicate with the computer modules in the car and they used their own 4G-connected module hidden in the car to control it. Their complaint is that these systems were "not protected". Well, duh! This is how thieves are stealing all the Toyotas and VF Commodores; the computer modules on these are ALSO not protected.
This is an industry problem that needs industry solutions. Selecting a chinese vehicle for your article is going to get the clicks for sure, but no matter the vehicle you're in, if it has connectivity, it is at risk.
What you next do about it now that you know the risk exists, is your choice.
To test the risks of surveillance and sabotage, Four Corners asked a hacker to show what China's top EV brand could see and do remotely.
