---
title: "Hackers Can Access Your Electric Scooter While You’re Riding It"
description: "A team of security researchers found a flaw in Xiaomi's M365 electric scooter. They were able to remotely control a scooter in a matter of hours."
date: "2019-02-12"
modified: "2019-02-12"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/hackers-remotely-access-electric-scooter"
categories:
  - "Advanced Transport"
tags:
  - "cybersecurity"
  - "iot"
  - "transportation"
---

# Hackers Can Access Your Electric Scooter While You’re Riding It

![A team of security researchers found a flaw in Xiaomi's M365 electric scooter. They were able to remotely control a scooter in a matter of hours.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/02/hackers-remotely-access-electric-scooter.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: Xiaomi\</em\>*

## Remote Control

If you see people on electric scooters wildly accelerating and braking, it might not only be because of the [usual electric scooter nonsense](<https://futurism.com/scooter-not-future-transportation>).

That's because a newly-discovered security flaw in a particular scooter's software can be exploited by hackers who can remotely accelerate or brake someone else's scooter, [according to *WIRED*](<https://www.wired.com/story/xiaomi-scooter-hack/>). It's a finding that highlights the fraught landscape of advanced transportation.

## Disrupting Safety

The scooter in question is Xiaomi's M365. A team of security researchers from a company called Zimperium were able to find and exploit the security flaw in a matter of hours.

"I was able to control any of the scooter features without authentication and install malicious firmware," Rani Idan, director of software research at Zimperium, told *Wired*. "An attacker could brake suddenly, or accelerate a person into traffic, or whatever the worst case scenario you can imagine."

## Plunder and Pillage

The problem comes down to the Bluetooth-enabled connection between scooter and smartphone app. The security researchers found that they could connect to an M365 scooter without even being prompted for a password. From there, they could inject their own malware — disguised as an official update from Xiaomi — into the scooter's code that granted them total control over the scooter's hardware.

"You would probably think those devices would implement the best security protections possible," Idan told *Wired*. "But unfortunately that is not always the case."

**READ MORE:** [A POPULAR ELECTRIC SCOOTER CAN BE HACKED TO SPEED UP OR STOP](<https://www.wired.com/story/xiaomi-scooter-hack/>) \[*Wired*\]

***More on scooters: [Lime Recalled Thousands of Scooters Because They Were Catching Fire](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/report-lime-recalling-scooters-catching-fire>)***

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)