CKirchner

Car hacking is a much bigger concern these days than it was in the past. As cars become more and more computerized — and share the same network — they become much more susceptible to people who want to do harm. It seems that the harm done here as a result of hacking is the thief was able to steal the car. The car in question is a Jeep Wrangler.

Read the rest on the JK Forum homepage. >>

jedg

I had read an article in Wall Street Journal about this theft. My understanding is the person had an accomplice that pulled the fuse for the horn so that it didn't sound when the alarm was activated. The person with the laptop is thought to have used software to marry a new key to the vehicle which implies they had a key that would work in the ignition. It's thought that the person using the software gained access to the FCA website in order to input the vehicle VIN and then received the necessary code to get the key he had trusted by the vehicle.

shabbernigdo

just wait till they have auto drive features then people can just hack them remotely and drive off with them from the comfort of their own home or vehicle. : )

Rednroll

I'ld probably be more concerned if I owned a Corolla, but I don't. I'ld be especially concerned if I owned a Chevy Impala. The Impala only sold 116,825 vehicles in 2015, compared to the Wrangler's 202,702 sold and yet the Impala is the 4th most stolen vehicle in the U.S. That's the highest ratio of cars sold vs. cars stolen.

14Sport

Makes sense. A dealer insider has access to all the necessary tools as well.

jedg

Senior Officer James Woods, who has spent 23 years in the Houston Police Department’s auto antitheft unit. “We don’t know what he is exactly doing with the laptop, but my guess is he is tapping into the car’s computer and marrying it with a key he may already have with him so he can start the car.” (http://www.marketwatch.com/story/the...top-2016-07-05)


The Journal also reported that an official from Fiat Chrysler Automobiles said it’s his opinion the thieves “are using dealer tools to marry another key fob to the car.” ( http://www.digitaltrends.com/cars/ca...ptops-hackers/ )

Just thought I'd toss this in here so that we correct azimuth a bit on 'Just a Laptop'. The media, as it usually does, is sensationalizing this without applying any common sense (or even any sense for that matter). The steering wheel still has a mechanical lock. You don't see the thief breaking it. Probably need a key then if you're not breaking the steering lock.

There've been 4 Jeep brand vehicles stolen in the Houston area that the HPD now suspect were stolen this way. Perhaps the thieves have access to a repair shop that has made repairs on these vehicles and that gave them access to the keys. Or the thieves get the VIN from the vehicle before hand and, since they hypothesis is they have access to FCA secure dealer websites, they are making copies of keys based on VIN.

I'm VERY skeptical that this jeep was stolen with JUST a laptop.

vulcan classic

I'll go ahead and call complete BS based on the video. You can easily notice the numerous time-lapse splicing in the video going on, all the while the time counter appears to be running in real time. There's no question a vehicle's computer system is vulnerable to hacking with the right software, just like anything else these days, and there are numerous articles and videos to support this. But based on the video here it is quite obvious the whole thing was staged. Just my .02!

brightyoungj

Just saw the JK Forum newsletter in my email about the stolen JK with a laptop, although my mom told me about it from a Dallas TV news program in mid June – maybe the incident happened in the Dallas area. I'm still trying to find a copy of the segment online.

Anywho, does anyone have any thoughts on what we could do to try to prevent this? I'm thinking of getting an old school "Club" steering wheel lock and installing one or two kill switches to be hidden around the Jeep.

What are your thoughts?

jvsacci

Add theft coverage to your insurance policy and call it a day. If someone wants to steal it, they will find a way.

JeeP_MarK

Looks like I need to diconect and move my obd2 port and put a dummy port in stock location