'New Way of Stealing Cars': Hacking Them With A Laptop (marketwatch.com)

retroworks writes: The Wall Street Journal (Warning: source may be paywalled), CBS and Marketwatch all lead the morning with stories about the newest method of stealing (late model) cars. No need for hacking off the ignition switch and touching the wires to create a spark (controversial during broadcasts in 1970s television crime criticized for "teaching people to steal cars"). Thieves now use the laptop to access the automobile's computer system, and voila. "Police and car insurers say thieves are using laptop computers to hack into late-model cars' electronic ignitions to steal the vehicles, raising alarms about the auto industry's greater use of computer controls. The discovery follows a recent incident in Houston in which a pair of car thieves were caught on camera using a laptop to start a 2010 Jeep Wrangler and steal it from the owner's driveway. Police say the same method may have been used in the theft of four other late-model Wranglers and Cherokees in the city. None of the vehicles have been recovered." The article concludes with the example filmed of a break-in in Houston. The thief, says the NICB's Mr. Morris, likely used the laptop to manipulate the car's computer to recognize a signal sent from an electronic key the thief then used to turn on the ignition. The computer reads the signal and allows the key to turn. "We have no idea how many cars have been broken into using this method," Mr. Morris said. "We think it is minuscule in the overall car thefts but it does show these hackers will do anything to stay one step ahead." No details on modifying the program to run on Android or iPhone -- there's not yet "an app for that."

Comments

Sometimes...

[Anonymous Coward]

Sometimes I actually miss the old days.

I've spent a lot of time lately thinking about how cars are over-engineered.

I've spent a lot of time pining for the days when you could fix them with a screwdriver. Hell, when you could fix them at all.

Although I don't miss dicking around with points.

Re:Sometimes...

[qwijibo]

They're becoming increasingly rare, and therefore expensive, but you can still get all of those features in used cars. The lead additive for gas is very hard to find in first world countries, but there are still places you can get that to complete the primitive automobile experience.

Don't forget, older cars are also easier to fix after a crash because they don't have those stupid crumple zones that newer cars have. Instead of trying to minimize impact to the owner, who is obviously the most expendable part of an old car during a crash, older cars maximize their own well being, knowing that there will always be a new owner. Older cars have the strongest anti-hacker technology available and many are immune to the effects of an EMP.

However, don't forget that modern cars have some benefits also. Older cars rarely have appropriate surfaces to affix your iPad so all of your music, movies and games are right in front of you during your boring commute. While the obvious solution of attaching them to the windshield with velcro is simple, most older cars have non-vertical windshields making it harder to reach controls at the bottom of the screen.

Many high end newer cars are susceptible to hacking, in the near future making it possible to steal and deliver the car to a chop shop or international shipper all from the comfort of mom's basement. Compare that with the intrinsic security of the '74 Ford Pinto - entirely immune to theft, even if left in the worst part of town with the doors unlocked and keys in the ignition.

This tangent brought to you by the Coalition for Reductio Ad Absurdum.

Re:Ford cars

[drinkypoo]

Replacement of heater/AC blower requires removal of about 1/4 of the dashboard, and the ECU, BCM/BCU, and other modules sometimes require total removal of the dashboard and center console. Wtf?

These things don't happen that often and they don't care about owners after the first one very much, and owners after the second one not at all. I've never seen a vehicle where you had to remove the bumper cover to replace a lamp.

I've got an A8 which is a rolling PITA, but it's interesting what is and what isn't easy to work on. The blower motor is trivial to replace as it's done from beneath the hood. I believe the heater cores require dash removal... it's either that or engine removal, I'd have to look it up. You can officially get at almost all of the climate control servos without dash removal, and unofficially get at all of them. But the heater core control valve is in a horrible location and you're supposed to remove the brake servo. If you are crafty, you don't have to do that, but the alternative is not fun either. All of the major hidden modules are trivial to access; the ABS is behind the driver's kick panel, and the PCM, TCM, and CCM are in an "e-Box" under the hood. The stereo comes out easily with fairly typical removal tools, but in order to get out the climate control module which lives right next to it out, you need to take out the floor mats and center console trim panels from both sides, remove the center vent, remove the stereo, and pull the whole center stack out of the dash including all of the big switches.

Anyway, everything continues in this vein... the intake manifold is trivial to remove but the oil cooler is a nightmare. I think the truth is that you're just running into basic limitations of what people expect and what it is reasonable to produce and assemble in the factory. There's only so much space in the car to make convenient maintenance access. On the other hand, some of it really is just bad design. I can get right at the blower motor in my F250, in my 300SD, and in my A8...