Watch Out For People With Laptops Connected By Cable To Your Ferrari
from the yeah-right dept
The latest threat to modern cars -- apparently -- is thieves with laptops who can pick the software locks used by keyless entry systems and steal a car in, oh, 20 minutes or so. It's hard to fathom how too many people could hang out next to a fancy car for 20 minutes with a laptop connected to the car via cable, never mind that attaching said cable to the car's computer would probably require breaking into it somehow. That is, unless they're using Bluetooth, the supposed scorn of cars everywhere. Shouldn't be too long before easily excitable anti-virus firms start announcing exclusive deals to supply regularly updated security software to automakers to deal with all this impending doom.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
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Connected Cars
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Whoa...
F430 Modena would be nice I daresay. But how do they manage to interface with the keyless entry system? I didn't think that was possible. Any explanations?
Matt
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Re: Whoa...
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Re: Whoa...
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m$
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Re: m$
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Re: Re: m$
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Re: Re: m$
I guess configuring something yourself, knowing how it's supposed to work and what is needed, is possibly better than letting some software decide what's best for my application. Then again, that can't be right. Look at how secure Windows is by default.
Again, not for everyone.... Just don't bash something simply because you find it difficult.
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Re: m$
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Re: m$
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2002/Mar02/03-04BMWpr.mspx
Matter of fact, BMW is not the only manufacturer using Windows CE, so are Citroën, DaimlerChrysler, Fiat, Honda, Hyundai, Toyota and Volvo.
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2006/jan06/01-05InfotainmentExperiencesPR.mspx
Aftermarket wise, Alpine, Kenwood and Panasonic all use MS in their products.
No one uses Linux in cars yet AFAIK, although Tom Tom's Navigator uses Linux.
Chris.
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Re: Re: m$
That said, there are also a lot of car PCs running Windows, and many more using Windows as part of an OEM ICE system.
Chris.
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Re: Re: m$
So I rebooted once more in safe mode and push the car all the way home.
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Re: Re: Re: m$
Often, the car will display 'restricted performance' or some such on the status display or trip computer. Sometimes this condition can be cured by disconnecting the battery (the car equivelant of a reboot) for a certain mount of time (usually more than an hour). It can always be cured by hooking up an ODB2 scanner and reseting the DTCs (Diagnostic Trouble Codes) to zero, although they may return if it's a chronic (and real) problem, much like a computer reboot won't cure a hardware problem...
Cars, much more like desktop computers than you think, there's even a large group of car geeks hacking said cars....
Chris.
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Cabled or Wireless?
If it's wireless then a 20 minute lockout isn't going to do much. Just follow the car you want to steal, park near em, and start up your cracking program. If you've got it set up right, your laptop never even has to be open, and it automatically opens the doors and starts the car once the keyless fob is cracked, you jump in and drive away.
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Re: Cabled or Wireless?
"Experts believe the gangs first acquire details on where a car's security data is stored - information that only the manufacturer is supposed to know. They then track a vehicle until they know it will be parked in a secluded area, because they need the time to connect their laptop to the car's computer via cable.
The gang runs software that interrogates the car's chips and sends them the right data to break the security barrier. "At key steps the car's software can halt progress for up to 20 minutes as part of its in-built protection," said Hart."
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Re: Re: Cabled or Wireless?
The details are incredibly sketchy (Carlo's quotes seem to be all there is). It sounds like the thief is purchasing info on how to put the car security into a factory diagnostic mode of some kind, which might explain the 20 minute lockout. The second article seems to indicate they've got control of the security system at that point and can do as they please with the car.
Just another reason not to trust security-by-obscurity systems, not that any more were needed.
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Cracking automotive RFID
They connected 16 FPGAs together at a total cost of under $3,500. Texas Instruments provided them with 5 DST tags whose keys they did not know. The 16-way parallel cracker was able to recover all 5 keys in well under 2 hours.
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keyless entry v. anti-theft no-start
the cable connection has nothing to do with the keyless entry. modern cars use RFID technology to test the key thats in the ignition. if the key is incorect, even if its cut properly, the computer will not allow the fuel injectors to fire. the cable connection theyr refering to is thru the OBD II plug. they hack the cars computer untill it either ignores the securety key procedure, or activates it thru a workaround, allowing the injectors to fire.
Darylicked: ASE certified tech (car hacker)
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great
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LOL
Again, americans impress me.
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Re: LOL
You expect someone to give you instructions on how to do this on Techdirt? Get a clue. The people who know how to do this want to keep it as secretive as possible so that others don't cut into their profits. The ones who don't know how to do this, can't post specifics. The news won't supply details as there would be an outbreak of car thefts if they did!
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Well
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Connected cars
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RE: keyless entry v. anti-theft no-start by Daryl
it seems that almost all of this is made up information :)
heres some thats true. the OBD II connector on a car doesnt have an input section... the pins simply A. send a 12v 15amp power supply through 1 pin. B. ground through another pin. and C. the rest are just to send specific singals to whatever device is connected.
what specific singals are sent?
if the ECM (the car's computer, which is _always_ buried under the hood) has detected any problems with the car, it stores that problem as a number... p0301 being a cylinder 1 misfire, p1428 being a ford specific transimssion speed sensor malfunction.
nothing can be sent to the ecm through this connector.
and plus, the connector itself is under the driverside dash.
point being, if anyone can physically hook up a cable to a car's computer, they either have the keys, or they broke in to it. (or broke the hood latch and found the ecm)
there just simply is no way this is possible through wires.
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Re: RE: keyless entry v. anti-theft no-start by Da
Otherwise, things like re-configuring cars so that satnav can be retrofited would be impossible (like this http://www.navplus.us/). If you know the particular codes needed to reconfigure your car's systems (like turning off the 'door locks on movement' in mine), then you can use generic ODBII PC-based software (like this http://obddiagnostics.com/) to change things.
Chris.
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Re: RE: keyless entry v. anti-theft no-start by Da
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Re: RE: keyless entry v. anti-theft no-start by Da
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Duh...
If I were a car thief, I'd stick to physical hacking.
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