Re:Car Insurers Find Tracking Devices Are a Tough Sell
by zubiaur on Tuesday January 12, 2016 @02:27PM
(#10889698)
1) Would require for you to establish a baseline current draw. If your car has already been equipped with the tracking device, it might be very difficult as they are extremely well hidden and the owner is rarely informed of the location. Current draw also varies depending on aftermarket accessories installed, such as car alarms.
2, 3) Like in a multiple level underground parking lot?, that might work.
It is technically possible but probably beyond what the average new car buyer is willing to do.
What car thieves do is to drive the newly stolen car as far as they can in as little time as possible and park it somewhere public. And wait. If its not recovered after a day or two, they assume its not being tracked. (they remove the stereo, ecu and other valuable components in the meantime)
1) Measure power draw from the car battery (not 100% conclusive probably but a 24-hour measurement might be)
2) Get a 20$ RTLSDR stick, drive somewhere remote with no cell coverage and watch for the tracking device in the GSM/3G frequencies - if found to try to connect it is at least powered on and trying to listen to commands
3) If activated and running on GSM, there might be a chance to listen to and decrypt its communication with the cell tower, especially if text messages are being used - and if not or it's running on 3G you could still monitor how active and frequent the device is in sending and receiving data