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Hackers Steal Keyless BMW In Under 3 Minutes
An anonymous reader writes with this bit from ZDNet: "It's cool to have a keyless BMW, until you no longer have a keyless BMW. Hackers have figured out how to break into such cars with ease. BMW has acknowledged there is a problem, but is not doing enough to protect its customers (video)."
I own a MINI with a keyless entry system ... MINI is made by BMW these days, so I was a bit concerned.
My first vision was "Yikes - someone either grabs my signal out of the air or else they have some 'rainbow box' that tries a bunch of freqs/combos really fast so they can essentially walk up to my car, get in, and go."
Turns out they have to break your window and connect to your OBD port... This sucks, but to my mind, it's not a whole lot of difference between that and breaking the window then hot-wiring the car. ... If they could just walk up and get in and drive away as if they had the valid key, I'd be a lot more concerned. ... checks insurance policy ... at least I've got theft insurance.
The Digital Sorceress
Ah, but will the insurance companies deny these claims like they have in the past?
Steering wheels are a thin steel hoop enclosed in foam you can hacksaw through them in less than a minute.
love is just extroverted narcissism
The basic design flaw is how key duplication/recovery is handled.
On my motorcycle (a Concours 14 with keyless ignition), to program a new key you need an existing key. The disadvantage is, naturally, if you lose all your keys, you need to replace the computer!
But its better than the alternative. On the BMW, all you need to do is plug into the OOBDII port and tell the computer "Here is the new key". This means if you lose all your keys, you don't have to buy a new computer... But it also means that anyone who can break into the car can create a key and drive off.
Test your net with Netalyzr
The large amount of software hacking and modifications available for the N54 / N55 engines and the iDrive systems disagree with your "locked" assertion.
Show me another car where you can get a $500 piggyback module that allows you to change engine performance through the steering wheel controls by hijacking signals on the CANbus, or changing gauge function on the fly: http://www.burgertuning.com/jb4_pnp_BMW_performance_tuner.html
These engines are a software hacker's dream.
Slashdot still doesnâ(TM)t support Unicode after it was added to the HTML standard in 1997.
When someone says, "Any fool can see
And yet, the speed limit in the passing lane is the same as the speed limit in the right lane. If I'm going at least the speed limit, I don't give a fuck which lane I'm in or who is behind me.
In the state of California, it is illegal to prevent passing by riding in the passing lane when it is possible to merge to the right, regardless of speed.
"You're right," Fisheye says. "I should have set it on 'whip' or 'chop.'"
Modern vehicles have to pass a 5mph crash test with no damage. Rolling into someone at a light should be fine. I once wrecked (in the "it was already scrap" sense) a late 90's Sunfire at a friend's farm and drove it ~15mph into a tree and it just bounced off. Hardly even scratched the bumper. We were pretty impressed with that car actually. It took a hell of a beating before it gave up. Taught us some interesting things too, like that you can tow a car by the trunk lid but not the hood ;)
They may be going faster than you when they pass, but their behavior can result in an accident where you hit them anyway. This occurs where they are slowing down or you are speeding up, meaning it is possible for the vehicles to collide despite the fact that they are passing you. This frequently occurs when you are overtaking a vehicle in the lane next to you moving more slowly than yours (usually the right lane in the United States), and someone behind that vehicle in that lane comes up and slips into your lane in front of you, relying on you to change your velocity or acceleration in order not to be hit, or allowing an unacceptably thin margin of error.
-- IANAL, this isn't legal advice, and definitely isn't legal advice for you. Also, Squee!
Maybe the laws in the United States are different, but over here if you're merging you're supposed to yield, not cut everyone to be ahead of the pack. It is not an obligation to move to the passing lane when there are cars trying to merge even if it can be convenient to do so.
AKA, it's a merge lane, not a "go as fast as you can before cutting the next 6 people who were on the highway a longer time than you" lane.
I considered installing a dash cam too, but then I realized it might be used against me (as in a court of law). Most would call me an asshole behind the wheel. Fair enough, though just like everybody else, I'm certain my driving skills are superior (only in my case they actually are ;-). I've sincerely run out of patience with apathy and inattention. BTW, I extend the following courtesies to all fellow drivers even if they don't reciprocate:
stay right except to pass,
slower traffic keep right,
leave room for those turning right on red,
if I pull out in front of you, you will not need to apply the breaks, use turn indicators, pull off the road if I'm lost, forgive innocent errors, never use the horn instead of evasive action, merge at the same speed as traffic, use cell phone only to stream music to the car audio system...I love driving, I just wish everyone else did too.
Have you ever noticed that anybody driving slower than you is an idiot, and anyone going faster than you is a maniac?