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.

Comments

Re:What good does locking the door do?

[Solandri]

If you watch the video, the procedure is to:

• Open the door and get in (either the car is unlocked, or they break in triggering the alarm).
• Plug the laptop into the OBD port. Command the alarm to turn off (if it was triggered).
• Reprogram the car to accept a new keyfob.
• Once that's done, the car recognizes your keyfob as its owner, and allows you to start the car and drive off.

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.

Re:Why lock the car?

[lucm]

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.