It had to happen: Now your car can get a virus from your Bluetooth phone. I was just talking to someone yesterday about how they love their LS430 and the Bluetooth integration to the built-in handsfree. Now, SC Magazine is reporting that some Lexus and Landcruiser models are susceptible to a virus they pick up from mobile phones serving as the vector.

Lexus cars may be vulnerable to viruses that infect them via mobile phones. Landcruiser 100 models LX470 and LS430 have been discovered with infected operating systems that transfer within a range of 15 feet.

From SC Magazine
Referenced Sat Jan 29 2005 14:32:12 GMT-0700

The virus infects the car's navigation system, which is based on the Windows OS. Having a virus in the navigation system probably isn't life threatening to most people, but one could imagine scenarios. Life-critical systems like brakes and steering are, at least for now, not controlled by systems that rely on Windows.

Last year 13,000 Bank of America ATMs were infected by the Slammer worm after they moved to a Windows-based operating system.

Some might ask why someone doesn't invent something to detect viruses. It turns out that that problem is equivalent to the halting problem and thus impossible to solve. They best we can do is to restrict virus vectors and protect against known variants.