Cape Talk, Sunday morning

More of the best of talk on Cape Talk. BYD, the Chinese brand behind the Shark 6 plug-in hybrid Bucky and the affordable Dolphin Surf EV, has been in South Africa since 2023 and it's been rapidly expanding its dealership network. That means more connected cars packed with software, cameras and microphones are turning up in South African driveways and it raises a question most of us don't ask while admiring the touch screen. If your car's connected, can someone else get into it? ABC Australia.

Along with Four Corners Investigation, recently put this to the test. They asked a cybersecurity specialist to hack a BYD Shark 6, the same model you can buy here. He was able to remotely lock the doors, flick the wipers on, and switch off the headlights while the car was being driven. And he could even switch on the car's microphones. Now, joining me to explain what this means for South African drivers is a prominent South African cybersecurity professional and a regular here on Cape Talk.

He's a social engineer, educator, and digital fraud investigator. His name is Buikokobe Makatuani, aka Mr. Fingers. That's how you know him when you listen to him on Lester's show. Buikokobe, this same BYD bucky that was hacked in Australia is sold here in South Africa. How worried should local EV and hybrid owners be? And does this apply to other connected cars? 100%. So I think being concerned, yes, but should we panic? No, we shouldn't panic.

So basically what happened with the DOID Shock 6, it had a vulnerability for the past two weeks. The vulnerability was actually closed when I also saw it was closed, was actually patched on last week Wednesday, which means the researcher that you saw on that you're talking about was able to access what the things that you mentioned, the lights, the car itself, speakers and all this other information as well. And so again, the vulnerability was patched, but is it still secure?