In this issue:

• Threat of the week: “Hello” texts are not from your friends!

• Nissan Leaf car hack - read if you drive any vehicle

• Survey: How can I help? (I really want to know in this short survey)

“Hello” texts are not from your friends!

One or two times each week I receive a text from a random phone number. The texts says “Hello” or something similar, just like in the picture I include here. You probably already know to NEVER respond to them. These texts are bait used to lure you into a conversation of some kind.

OR something like this…

But why are they doing this? Here’s the main things that can happen if you engage in conversation:

• They will know the phone number is legitimate… and will use this information to create ways to scam you.

• They may comment on how nice you are and give some suggestion of fate in meeting this way… and will eventually scam you.

• They mention a specific friend (everyone knows a John or Karen, right?)… and will use it to pretend you have a connection before inventing a way to scam you.

And there are many other text scams which I will highlight in future newsletters. Here are a few:

• They might include general information about a doctor’s appointment. If it looks suspicious, contact the doctor’s office through the normal method (phone, website, or mobile app)—do not use the link or phone number from the text. You can confirm with the authentic provider which numbers they use for texting and then insert them into your phone.

• The past due toll scam. It’s always a scam. Ignore it. You can log in to your toll pass provider’s website. If you rented a car, the rental company would not have given your phone number to the toll providers.

• The USPS / UPS / FedEx scams about a package amount due or a tracking number. Check your emails if you have any packages on the way and use the tracking numbers from the legitimate vendor.

There are many more text scams out there. Please reply and let me know what others you have seen, and if you have a sample of them I would love to see it.

Nissan Leaf car hack - read if you drive any vehicle

This article provides a real example of how cars today are hackable through the software and connectivity built into them. I’m personally worried about the cars I own now and will buy in the future. So much so that I plan to have at least one car from a pre-digital era without connectivity to the internet.

I’m very surprised I didn’t see this article about the Nissan Leaf hack in the regular news (here it is in Security Week). During a hacking competition in April 2025, the 2020 Nissan Leaf was remotely hacked through the infotainment system’s Bluetooth capability. The researchers were able to do many things, including create a communication link over cellular that allows remote control of the steering wheel.

The researchers could hack the car to do all of the following:

• Remote control the steering wheel, doors (locks, I assume), wipers, horn, mirrors, windows, and lights while the car was in motion

• Track the car’s location

• Record people talking in the car

• Take screenshots of the infotainment system

Nissan is aware of the issues but I couldn’t find information to see if they have fixed the problems. This isn’t the first time the Nissan Leaf has been hackable, according to another security report I found from 2016.

I know many people in automotive product security and they are doing their best to secure cars and focus on safety. There are even cybersecurity standards that the developers follow for vehicle cybersecurity. The ultimate problem is that software contains defects—it is impossible to test for all the situations and ways that the millions of lines of software code can be hacked. The best we can do is rely on vehicle manufacturers to continuously update the software and improve their architecture to keep the threats out of the systems.

“How can I help you” Survey

Can you take 2-3 minutes and let me know how I can help you? This survey is super quick and I’d really appreciate your help.

Google survey: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd2kmVgrRLvOjISbEr1nWfaefyA6rU8g2qHAYKnCa0E3VAkQg/viewform

Thank you so much!!!

Sincerely,
Cassie Crossley
Founder, Cyber Safe Center
https://www.cybersafecenter.com