Hackers Can Hijack Your Car With $26 Device

H

HardOCP News

[H] News
Joined
Dec 31, 1969
Messages
0
This is kinda scary. It would be even more so if you didn't have to physically plug it into the car.

Now, however, a first viable general-use car-hacking tool has been developed that's also cheap. It's worth noting that the device, which uses eleven extremely common parts (all added up, those parts cost $26.27)and is based on the very flexible Arduino platform.
Click to expand...
 
DeChache said:
I think he is implying the won't know how to drive it.
Click to expand...

Ah. I'll just have more fun when I steal your car. I'll have it back by lunch. :D

I need to teach my son in a few months how to drive a manual transmission. Getting his permit, I'm sure I'll go through at least one clutch. But, it's a skill worth knowing. Fun, too.
 
DeChache said:
I think he is implying the won't know how to drive it.
Click to expand...

Yep. I bought a manual for the very same reason. I park in public parking for work right near a few bus stops as well as a homeless shelter around the corner. Sure there might be a criminal eventually that knows how to drive stick, but they are few and far between.
 
what better way to try to learn to drive a stick than by grinding the hell out of a car that isn't yours.
 
So they have to break into your car and hook Android hardware up to the CAN bus? They already broke into your damn car, who cares what happens at that point. They could drop a deuce on the seat too.
 
Solution...own a hack-proof car:

13920640656UPxRC6D09_1_1.jpg
 
I too can hack a car with nothing but a sizable rock. Cheaper than the $26 they're talking about.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Ah. I'll just have more fun when I steal your car. I'll have it back by lunch. :D

I need to teach my son in a few months how to drive a manual transmission. Getting his permit, I'm sure I'll go through at least one clutch. But, it's a skill worth knowing. Fun, too.
Click to expand...

This, this, and this again. First two cars were manuals and I've missed them ever since. Driving is never as fun.
 
My car has no keys. None. Nada. Not even door keys.

If the little fob isn't in my pocket it becomes a 4200 pound lump of coal.
 
Oh, but almost nothing defeats a flat-bed with a winch :(
 
RF Devices are bad, M'kay.

I've been saying this ever since I used a proxmark 3. For $350 you too can steal RFID enabled credit cards by brushing against a purse or wallet area as well as steal some BMW's.
 
DeChache said:
I think he is implying the won't know how to drive it.
Click to expand...

Yeah and that's about as useful a deterrent as not broadcasting your SSID on your unsecured wireless router. Yeah some people might not know what to do, however you're pretty delusional if you think it's really that difficult to get around.
 
I want to buy a small car (Miata or something) that handles good, not necessarily a lot of power, and hit the SCCA circuit. Just to have fun. I'd love a nice muscle car that can haul ass down the straight away, but I really enjoy those curvy back roads (Columbia River Gorge has a lot of them).
 
sfsuphysics said:
Yeah and that's about as useful a deterrent as not broadcasting your SSID on your unsecured wireless router. Yeah some people might not know what to do, however you're pretty delusional if you think it's really that difficult to get around.
Click to expand...

Not saying it is. That's just how I interpreted his post. I'm not quite sure why your calling me delusional.....

I can drive a manual and so can my wife and everybody I've taught has picked it up pretty quick.
 
You mean it didn't take years of training for you to learn? Are you trying to imply that a car thief would just, I don't know, maybe rev it to 4k and dump the clutch and not care that he put slightly more wear and tear on the clutch and perhaps even chirp the tires?

I always have thought that this argument is silly. It takes a fair amount of driving to become a smooth manual transmission driver or to learn good shifting techniques for high performance driving. It requires absolutely no ability whatsoever to make a manual transmission car move. The last thing the guy stealing your car cares about is rough and jerky shifts or chirping the tires or wearing the clutch. Ever heard of drive it like you stole it? It's not like someone knows enough about cars to steal one but is unable to at least get a manual transmission going unless there are a lot of one legged bandits in your area.
 
Last year, we were told not to worry by security professionals when a similar story ran because the hack of the car required several large laptops and cabling. Now the same thing takes a much smaller gizmo costing less than $30. How many months before the gizmo is the same size and shape as one of the Progressive Snapshot things?

I am not worried about the theft issue, if the bad guys have physical access to the vehicle, they can steal it if they want it. The problem is with a plug in gizmo that looks like one of the insurance things, the bad guys might be able to cause the car to swerve into oncoming traffic or off a cliff by playing with the traction control system and or thottle when the victim drives by. Murder by remote control and likely blamed on "Inattentive driving" or "Loss of control due to excessive speed". Even if investigators find the "insurance company gizmo", they likely wouldn't think to verify that it was truly an innocent monitoring device rather than a malicious killing thing.
 
I wouldn't rely on a cars security system to keep it from getting stolen. If they're in your car, then you already lost. Doesn't matter what you do to prevent them, the car is gone.

Better solution is what to do once the car is stolen. I use a GPS tracker in my car so I can track it once it's stolen. Just throw a pay as you go SIM card. Just hide the device that isn't easy to get to, like taking apart a good deal of the dash. As long as the battery has power, you can track the car. If I can find my car, then I can beat the crap out of you.

751c4eeb7f7217b5.jpg
 
As an eBay Associate, HardForum may earn from qualifying purchases.
Cracking an ECU takes an incredible amount of work. The trick is to drive an obscure brand where nobody has bothered to release the crack into the wild.
 
jeremyshaw said:
Strangely, from the Europeans. Notice how all of the euro barges can autodrive in traffic, now?
Click to expand...

Got me there I was trying to make a joke and it didn't work. I'm just bitter because I don't like the idea :p

Those euro barges are awesome.
 
"still requires that it be physically plugged into the car's CAN bus"
Unless they can get into the car without brining attention to them for 5 minutes not that useful. It's easier just to wait at unpopular stopping and hold someone up with a gun, get the key and car already running only takes a moment.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top