Magazine article
Are our cars spying on us? A cybersecurity expert explains how to stay safe
The Conversation, Vol.1 June 2026
2026
Appears in The Conversation
Abstract
Australia’s spy agency issued a stark warning to politicians and public servants last week: do not discuss sensitive or classified information in vehicles.
Speaking at senate estimates, ASIO Deputy Director-General Lisa Alonso Love said the warning concerned “any vehicle, whether it’s connected or not”. But she added that “connected vehicles” may come with additional risks for data collection. Her advice was that classified conversations should occur only in properly secured locations, not while travelling.
The warning came after seven models of Chinese electric vehicles were added to the list of taxpayer-funded cars available to federal politicians, representing 30% of the vehicles now available under the parliamentarian vehicle scheme.
But this is not just a problem with electric cars, nor cars manufactured in China. Connected vehicles of any kind come with several privacy and national security risks.
Details
- Title
- Are our cars spying on us? A cybersecurity expert explains how to stay safe
- Authors
- Dennis Desmond - University of the Sunshine Coast
- Publication details
- The Conversation, Vol.1 June 2026
- Publisher
- Conversation Media Group
- Date published
- 2026
- DOI
- 10.64628/AA.ej9ghhkjd
- ISSN
- 2201-5639
- Copyright note
- © The Conversation Media Group. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
- Organisation Unit
- School of Science, Technology and Engineering
- Language
- English
- Record Identifier
- 991232901302621
- Output Type
- Magazine article
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1 Record Views