The ability to connect your smartphone to the software-based infrastructure of your car might make it easier for you to listen to your choice of music, or to get directions to your destination, but it’s also providing cybercriminals and hackers with another attack vector they could use to target the vehicle for nefarious means. That’s the warning from David Ward, head of functional safety at automotive engineering and development consultancy MIRA, who was speaking at The Institution of Engineering and Technology (The IET) during a recent conference on cybersecurity for urban transport systems. Ward pointed out that software is becoming an increasingly important area of motor vehicle design, citing how “one or two vehicle manufacturers are starting to deliver over-the-air updates” and how in the US “dedicated short-range communication is proposed to become a mandatory feature on vehicles”.