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Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

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Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#41

Post by jacquesm »

LeonM wrote: post #37

Every once in awhile one of these articles pop up on a news site. People (read: non-technical audience) seem to enjoy reading about a mysterious method of stealing a car, detecting your laptop/ipad in the trunk, tricking an ATM to give free money, hacking your phone, etc, etc. Reality is that this kind of theft never is as straightforward as the article tells you. In this case it required the thieves to break into th…

> It requires him to break the lock/door/glass to get in first.

They pop the hood, apparently.

http://www.khou.com/news/crime/high-tech-thieves-crooks-usin...

The rest is all 'digital', no further use of force required.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#42

Post by jacquesm »

chrissnell wrote: post #10
icantdrive55 wrote: post #6

If your poor, like myself, and want to slow down a car thief, put in a kill switch. Run the proper gague wire from the primary on the coil to a switch in the cab. The primary wires are the small wires on the coil. (I can't think of any reason the ECU would throw a trouble code.) It gets more complicated if you have a separate distributor running to each cylinder, but there's always a point in the electrical system yo…

There's a cleaner way. You can use a battery terminal disconnect directly on the battery: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001N729FS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_p1xP... Personally, I drive an old diesel truck and it's as simple as disconnecting the fuel cut-off solenoid wire from the solenoid. Old diesels like mine are terrifically simple and really only have two wires: the starter positive lead and the fuel cut-off lead. The cut-o…

That won't work for a whole pile of cars, especially German ones. They will lose the throttlebody sync and you won't be able to get it out of 'limp' mode without some ODBII reset and re-sync magic.

Essentially the ECU will no longer know what position the throttlebody servo is in and to avoid engine damage it won't allow more than 1500 RPM or so.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#43

Post by CPLX »

adrianN wrote: post #26
duskwuff wrote: post #5

"And malware "? Sounds like the only piece of software involved was the one the thieves were using, and it was doing exactly what it was supposed to.

Malware also does exactly what's it supposed to do.

That was surprisingly profound.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#44

Post by welder »

chrissnell wrote: post #10
icantdrive55 wrote: post #6

If your poor, like myself, and want to slow down a car thief, put in a kill switch. Run the proper gague wire from the primary on the coil to a switch in the cab. The primary wires are the small wires on the coil. (I can't think of any reason the ECU would throw a trouble code.) It gets more complicated if you have a separate distributor running to each cylinder, but there's always a point in the electrical system yo…

There's a cleaner way. You can use a battery terminal disconnect directly on the battery: https://www.amazon.com/dp/B001N729FS/ref=cm_sw_r_cp_api_p1xP... Personally, I drive an old diesel truck and it's as simple as disconnecting the fuel cut-off solenoid wire from the solenoid. Old diesels like mine are terrifically simple and really only have two wires: the starter positive lead and the fuel cut-off lead. The cut-o…

Car batteries can explode from sparks... I wouldn't want to be disconnecting the battery every day increasing those chances.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d_TnsHu2u4c

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#45

Post by cdubzzz »

jacquesm wrote: post #41
LeonM wrote: post #37

Every once in awhile one of these articles pop up on a news site. People (read: non-technical audience) seem to enjoy reading about a mysterious method of stealing a car, detecting your laptop/ipad in the trunk, tricking an ATM to give free money, hacking your phone, etc, etc. Reality is that this kind of theft never is as straightforward as the article tells you. In this case it required the thieves to break into th…

> It requires him to break the lock/door/glass to get in first. They pop the hood, apparently. http://www.khou.com/news/crime/high-tech-thieves-crooks-usin... The rest is all 'digital', no further use of force required.

Did you watch the video in that article? It doesn't seem to line up at all with the text of the article, oddly. You see the guy for a moment and then the video skips forward and he's sitting in the Jeep with the alarm going off. The alarm appears to have been going for a good couple of minutes.

Wouldn't popping the hood also require breaking a window or otherwise getting in the car to pull the release?

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#46

Post by DaiPlusPlus »

Niten wrote: post #35
a3n wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> (I have noticed a lot of old Japanese vehicles being stolen in the Bay Area. Go figure?) Parts? Old Japanese cars are still on the road, running well. My son is driving my original purchase 1990 Honda.

> Old Japanese cars are still on the road, running well. My son is driving my original purchase 1990 Honda. I recently moved out to the Bay Area from south Florida, and one thing that really struck me was how many y2k-ish cars were on the road looking practically new. I think it's mostly a matter of climate. I would have loved to keep my 2000 Integra on the road, but the unholy combination of Florida's sun and humidi…

My theory for that is different construction materials: cars built in the 1970s and 1980s become rust-buckets quite easily - but cars built after the mid-1990s use considerably better bodywork materials that don't need specialist care to maintain, especially a lot more plastic. I drive a 2013 Ford Focus and the entire front assembly is plastic - no way that's going to rust or corrode. I'm almost looking forward to selling it for a good price after the warranty expires.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#47

Post by MertsA »

cdubzzz wrote: post #45
jacquesm wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It requires him to break the lock/door/glass to get in first. They pop the hood, apparently. http://www.khou.com/news/crime/high-tech-thieves-crooks-usin... The rest is all 'digital', no further use of force required.

Did you watch the video in that article? It doesn't seem to line up at all with the text of the article, oddly. You see the guy for a moment and then the video skips forward and he's sitting in the Jeep with the alarm going off. The alarm appears to have been going for a good couple of minutes. Wouldn't popping the hood also require breaking a window or otherwise getting in the car to pull the release?

Depending on the car the hood can be released from underneath but it's a massive pain and requires contorting arms in unnatural ways.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#48

Post by snsr »

cdubzzz wrote: post #45
jacquesm wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It requires him to break the lock/door/glass to get in first. They pop the hood, apparently. http://www.khou.com/news/crime/high-tech-thieves-crooks-usin... The rest is all 'digital', no further use of force required.

Did you watch the video in that article? It doesn't seem to line up at all with the text of the article, oddly. You see the guy for a moment and then the video skips forward and he's sitting in the Jeep with the alarm going off. The alarm appears to have been going for a good couple of minutes. Wouldn't popping the hood also require breaking a window or otherwise getting in the car to pull the release?

Jeep Wranglers have external manual hood latches, not sure which vehicle is the subject of the article though.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#49

Post by bfuller »

cdubzzz wrote: post #45
jacquesm wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> It requires him to break the lock/door/glass to get in first. They pop the hood, apparently. http://www.khou.com/news/crime/high-tech-thieves-crooks-usin... The rest is all 'digital', no further use of force required.

Did you watch the video in that article? It doesn't seem to line up at all with the text of the article, oddly. You see the guy for a moment and then the video skips forward and he's sitting in the Jeep with the alarm going off. The alarm appears to have been going for a good couple of minutes. Wouldn't popping the hood also require breaking a window or otherwise getting in the car to pull the release?

>wouldn't popping the hood require breaking into the car first

Short answer, it depends. There are a lot of very simple methods to bypass having to actually get in the car to pop the hood.

But unless they can remotely unlock the doors with their device, they will be breaking in at some point.

Being an experienced mechanic means you practically have all the skills needed to be a great car theif.

Re: Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

#50

Post by bfuller »

snsr wrote: post #48
cdubzzz wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did you watch the video in that article? It doesn't seem to line up at all with the text of the article, oddly. You see the guy for a moment and then the video skips forward and he's sitting in the Jeep with the alarm going off. The alarm appears to have been going for a good couple of minutes. Wouldn't popping the hood also require breaking a window or otherwise getting in the car to pull the release?

Jeep Wranglers have external manual hood latches, not sure which vehicle is the subject of the article though.

Jeeps used to have awful security, so the fact that these thieves had to take an extra step or two, rather than just jimmying door and bumpstarting the car, means they have actually increased security.

My neighbor had his wrangler stolen a few years ago. I wasn't surprised.

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