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Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware To Steal More Than 30 Jeeps (abc13.com)
New submitter altnuc writes: Two thieves in Houston stole more than 30 Jeeps by using a laptop and a stolen database. The thieves simply looked up the vehicles' VIN numbers in a stolen database, reprogramed a generic key fob, started the cars, and drove away. Chrysler has confirmed that more than 100 of their vehicles have been stolen in the Houston area since November. Chrysler/Jeep owners should always make sure their vehicles are locked! The Wall Street Journal issued a report in July with more details about how hackers are able to steal cars with a laptop. The whole process takes roughly 6 minutes. CrimeStopHouston has posted a video on YouTube of one of the thieves in action.
Even better, the VIN is easily readable from outside the car.
Damned if I don't 'accidentally' always throw a roadmap* up on the dashboard, right on top of the VIN plate.
*Get off my lawn!
Have gnu, will travel.
So the new keyfob can't be paired until after the thief is inside the vehicle.
There're a lot of ways the manufacturer could've made this harder. But I've been arguing for two decades now that there should be a physical jumper or toggle switch on computers which you should have to flip in order to be able to change files in the system folder/partition. With it flipped to the default state, system files should be read-only (write logfiles somewhere else). That hasn't happened yet and systems are still getting rooted left and right, so I really don't think computer folks have much grounds for criticism.
Old shit cars get stolen all the time. Not because the thieves wil get a fortune out of it or because they're on special order from foreign billionaires. They get stolen because they're easy to steal and/or can be useful in the commission of other crimes.
There's this guy who specializes in insurance scams. Lets say you're stuck with a lease on a Prius that you'd love to get rid of, and you just can't find a moron to take it. For $250 that guy will steal an old Pontiac Sunbird or some other piece of garbage, and will ram it in your Prius in a way that ensures it's totaled. Problem solved. If there's two Sunbirds side by side, and one of them has a club, guess which one he's going to steal.
lucm, indeed.
My experience of jeeps is that they're usually the cars beached or rolled on the side of the road during snowstorms, or stranded at the side of the road on steep hills whilst I drive past in my lightweight french FWD rustbucket with chains fitted.
People seem to think that 4WD means that the steering or braking works better than other cars.