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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.
but is there a reason it's so easy to reprogram the key fobs to start a car? I mean, my bloody credit card has a chip in it for Pete's sake and I got it free with my account. Heck my crummy bank card has one.
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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!
They're duplicating the key fob. If it's good enough to start the car it's good enough to unlock the damned thing.
Even better, the VIN is easily readable from outside the car. This whole thing smacks of TSA level security. That is, look like you're doing something while creating a bottleneck, when in reality all you're doing is creating a bottleneck.
I'm not sure locking the car will make any difference. My guess is they can hack into the electronic ignition they can hack into the electronic door locks as well.
In a time of universal deceit, telling the truth is a revolutionary act. George Orwell
The programming on the key has nothing to do with the door locks, but everything to do with starting the car. You have to insert the key into the door to unlock it, while mere possession of the smart key allows the car to be started. Admittedly basing the smart key code on the readily visible VIN is short-sighted and foolish, the act of locking your car up will at least prevent the casual access.
errr....umm...*whooosh* *whoosh* Is this thing on ?
Doesn't the fob unlock the door as well? The standard place for a VIN is under the wind shield; hence any car parked in the open could be a target as someone could easily walk by and snap a picture of the vin through the wind shield with their phone while walking by and nobody would think of it as odd. You won't be doing yourself any good to lock your car if that is the case.
Besides, if they are stealing Wranglers the parts are so easily obtainable that a broken window is trivially easy to replace. Maybe Grand Cherokees are slightly more difficult to obtain quickly but likely not by much.
Damn_registrars has no butt-hole. Damn_registrars has no use for a butt-hole.
You may be onto something. If you fill the car with junk so it looks like a homeless den, then it probably won't get stolen either.
Excuse me, but please get off my Pennisetum Clandestinum, eh!
There will be no way to avoid this by sticking with "real hardware" technology like mechanical locks and keys. In the same way that that all credit cards will be chipped along with all passports, you will ultimately be required to have your house/apartment hooked to the internet to get insurance. This will be justified due to fire sensors that automatically call the fire department. Part of the installation will also unlock all doors and windows to insure that anyone trapped inside will be able to escape.
It sounds reasonable up to a point, but it's obvious that the police and government are already drooling over the possibility that no one will be able to secure their physical space. It will be justified in terms of "terrorists" and "home invasion", but the real motivation is so they can infiltrate anybody at any time. The lack of constitutional protections for communications will be extended into real life.
When Orwell wrote 1984 he was being optimistic.
Black Ops by TMBG
Why is Snark Required?
Potato. Tailpipes are generally too large for bananas; it'd be like Danny Devito trying to give anal pleasure to Andre the Giant...
I never leave my car.
“Common sense is not so common.” — Voltaire
I've often been tempted, rather than fitting a locking gas cap to my pickup that gas thieves have several times stolen from, to replumb it so that I fuel it from behind the plastic paneling in the bed, while the normal fueling port leads to something that will ruin their engine.
I recently did the next best thing. I discovered that they like to nab gas cans after they stole three of them (and my toolbox) out of the back of my pickup when I stepped out to pick up my father while preparing for a trip. So I offered them a "bait" can (they took it the same evening I put it out). Oh, sure, the *top* two liters in the can were gasoline.... but the bottom two liters were hydrochloric acid. I considered sodium silicate instead of HCl, but I figured this would do the job even better, since even the fumes will aggressively rust steel. ;) Maybe I should have tried adding some surfactants to try to make the two liquids miscible, so that the engine would never flood and they'd run the whole acid load through the engine. But meh, this is probably good enough even if it does flood ;)
No, she's fine. My associate is vomiting for a totally unrelated reason.
WTF did I just read?
You wouldn't understand. It's a Jeep thing.
Like this ? ---> http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_8n5K... http://www.autoblog.com/2007/0...