The Growing Danger Of High Tech Car Thieves

1
The Growing Danger Of High Tech Car Thieves
2
Several years ago I gave a friend of mind, who is
a single mother, a gift that she recently told me
was one of the best gifts she has ever received.
3
It is a simple device that you put under the
door handle of your exterior door and then you
rest the bottom on the floor and it makes it
virtually impossible for someone to come through
that door.
4
How To Stop High Tech Car Thieves
5
With all the high tech systems that are now
installed on today's vehicles, it may be the
simplest of devices that will be able to stop car
thieves.
6
Install a mechanical steering wheel lock.
7
But why go old school?
8
Technology is always a double edged sword.
9
Take the new version of the old car key, the fob.
10
You know, the device that can start your car
without you even having to be inside it.
11
This technology can be really handy for vehicle
owners, but it opens the door for savvy high tech
car thieves as well.
12
For less than 40 would be car thieves can buy a
device that allows them to program a blank fob so
that it will work with your car.
13
I know, you were told at the dealership that
your car won't start unless the car's computer
receives a unique signal from your fob.
14
Did they also tell you at the dealership that it
is easy, by using readily available
key-programming equipment, to create copies of
your fob with that exact same signal?
15
It is estimated that by 2020, 90 of all vehicles
on the road will have the technology installed
that allows them to connect to the Internet.
16
With this connection comes a myriad of potential
vulnerabilities that car owners will have to face.
17
Recently, researchers showed just how easy it can
be to take control of a car's steering and brakes
while the vehicle is actually on the road,
perhaps going down the freeway at 70 MPH.
18
The fact is that the more the Internet
connection interacts with different functions of
the vehicle, the more susceptible that the
vehicle is too high tech thieves and hackers.
19
High Tech Car Thieves Thrive On New Technology
20
For their part, car manufacturers are working as
quickly as possible to address the danger of high
tech thieves and hackers.
21
The problem is that they are actually working
against themselves.
22
Every time they introduce some new technological
advancement in one of their vehicles, they are
simultaneously opening the door for high tech car
thieves and hackers to walk right through,
meaning they are always playing catch up with
themselves.