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As if to underscore the cyber-risk, a couple of weeks later a hacker reported that he could access General Motors’ OnStar RemoteLink app to locate, unlock and remotely start GM vehicles.

Most modern cars are already “pervasively computerized,” the federal tender document observes.

A car produced in 2014 may include up to 100 computers, called electronic control units, which exchange up to 25 gigabytes of data every hour on the vehicle’s internal communications bus.

Automobiles are also more interconnected than ever, with many wireless communication interfaces with the Internet and other external elements.

Cyber-attacks on personal computers and servers, though serious, usually result in the theft of information or money, the government tender notes. “In the case of vehicular systems, cyber-attacks are a more important concern, since the safety of their users or the other users on the road might be at stake.”

The danger will only increase as more cars are equipped with wireless connectivity. According to the research firm IHS Automotive, by 2022 the number of cars connected to the web globally is expected triple to more than 82 million.

In an online briefing on automotive cybersecurity earlier this year, the British-based Institution of Engineering and Technology said connected cars “likely represent another addition to the cyber-attackers’ expanding hit-list of prospective targets.”

It said possible motives could include data theft, extortion, mischief and malevolence, politically or ideologically motivated “hacktivism” and even terrorism.