China could detonate or disable electric vehicles sold in Australia, a top cybersecurity expert has warned.
Alastair MacGibbon, former cybersecurity adviser to then-Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull, sounded the alarm at the Financial Review’s Cyber Summit on Tuesday.
He depicted Australia’s policy towards Chinese EV’s as a security failure, adding the situation was so dire public officials ought to be banned from riding in them.
‘The last decision of the National Security Committee of the Turnbull government was to take high-risk vendors out of 5G networks,’ he said.
‘Fast-forward seven years and… potentially millions of [the Internet of Things] or connected devices – not made in China, but controlled by China – are all through our systems.
‘Those cars that we talk about, whether they’re electric or not, are listening devices, and they’re surveillance devices in terms of cameras.’
Mr MacGibbon, who now serves as the chief strategy officer at CyberCX, said the risks went beyond just EV’s to smart devices made or controlled in China.
‘Let’s talk potential scenarios, take off the safety features of household batteries so that they overcharge. Take off those same safety features for electric vehicles,’ he said.
Hellbound and Down 