BMW Cars Vulnerable To Blank Key Attack

Techmeology writes "Thieves have discovered how to steal BMW cars produced since 2006 by using the onboard computer that is able to program blank keys. The device used — originally intended for use by garages — is able to reprogram the key to start the engine in around three minutes. The blank keys, and reprogramming devices, have made their way onto the black market and are available for purchase over the Internet."

Comments

Imagine if this was self-driving car

[Googlefu]

Not only would Google's self-driving car be vulnerable to this attack, it would start driving around itself! And you would be responsible for everything the hacked vehicle did.

I agree with the previous note. It raises some very interesting points and why Google's self-driving cars would be bad. Just imagine if someone hacked your car and it ran over someone.

Re:Imagine if this was self-driving car

[DigiShaman]

Take the first law for example

A robot may not injure a human being or, through inaction, allow a human being to come to harm.

So a robot walks in a warehouse and finds 100 people all tied up. One of them in the middle has explosives. In this scenario, the robot concludes that the only way to save the other 99 is to kill the one with the explosives. He only has 5 seconds to make a decision.

What does he do? By the first law, he's screwed no matter what decision he makes. Does he opt for the greater good option and kill the one man to save the 99? Or let all 100 die?

Re:Imagine if this was self-driving car

[Pieroxy]

It's not security vs ease of use. It the proof that you should not let a hardware company reinvents itself as a software company. At least not for critical stuff. Whether the car lock is critical or not is another debate.

Look at drivers for printers or scanners, or GC to see that hardware companies have no shame at all when it comes to releasing software that any software developer would qualify as a pile of smoking shit.

Re:Imagine if this was self-driving car

[1s44c]

"Hey, that's a nice car you have there"
"Uhh, hi, yeah, thanks"
"What do you do?"
"I'm a software developer"
"Looking for a job? My name is X and I work for...."
I've verified that those I didn't immediately blow off were indeed mgmt at software companies.

So, ya'll have fun bashing bmers!

Are you making this up? Basing recruitment decisions on the car someone drives sounds crazy to me but this is one crazy world.

Re:In other news:

[54mc]

I stopped locking my car for a similar reason. Nothing in my car is worth more than the cost of a broken window. I will say that I've lost a few jackets I've left in there during the winter, but, as I said, they were a lot cheaper than a new window.

Re:Ford Comparison

[Lumpy]

Why so complicated? a simple $3.29 switch that interrupts the power to the fuel pump. Works on 99.98765% of all cars and will foil any thief.

Flip switch under seat, and leave the car. Thief tries to start car and it acts like it is out of gas. No thief will look under the seat for a switch they have less than 30 seconds to get in and get the car moving or they risk getting caught, so if they cant do a fast smash and grab they move on.

Passive alarm system.

[SternisheFan]

True story. Some years back in N.Y.C. thieves stole a restored vintage car, not knowing the owner had installed his own homemade anti-theft deterrent system. As they're tooling around in Manhattan, the thief who's driving sees a large unlabled red button mounted all by itself in the dash. The guy says to his buddy, "Hey,I wonder what this does...", and presses it. In the middle of a block the engine shuts down, the horn blares, and the car's lights keep flashing on and off. Unable to restart it, the thieves abandon the car, and that owner was laughing when he got it back, unscathed, the same day. So this story shows how you don't always need an expensive complicated alarm system to get the job done.