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"Leprachaun on motorway" and other tricks played on you by your Sat-Nav - by hackers

It turns out that hackers can send secret messages to your RDF car radio, and from there, to your SatNav. No, it's not serious, but it might be embarrassing.

According to About Electronics from InfoSecurity 2007, security experts "are warning that mischievous hackers could send bogus signals to satellite navigation systems via the radio."

The report quotes Andrea Barisani, chief security engineer at consultancy Inverse Path, and Daniele Bianco, a hardware hacker at the same company, who have demonstrated the exploit.

The trick is to use the messages that are coded into RDF radios. Trigger the code, and you'll get a message. The surprise for most car drivers will be the discovery that everything - but everything - which can go wrong, has been anticipated. Code 27 might say "exploding bomb ahead." Or code 339 might be for: "Road ahead is blocked by a bullfight."

"Almost any programmed message built into the satnav system can be activated because the data stream does not need to be encrypted or authenticated," says the report.