Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to Steal More Than 30 Jeeps

Re:Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to St... by jacquesm on Saturday August 06, 2016 @11:08AM (#12238342)

I think they have to have the key already, but still 'blank' That will likely open the door but it would normally raise the alarm, that's why they start under the hood first, to disable that.

After that the procedure would be fairly easy: open the door with the still unlearned key, learn the new key ID to the ECU (takes < 1 minute) using the laptop, after that you can start the car.

One handy tip I got from the police after my own car got stolen (a VW transporter camper) was that you should mask off a chunk of the VIN so thieves can't use the VIN to order keys that will fit the car (but that still need to be programmed in the ECU in order to allow a start).

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Re:Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to St... by deleted_soon on Saturday August 06, 2016 @11:33AM (#12238419)

Isn't it illegal to remove the VIN?

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Re:Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to St... by jacquesm on Saturday August 06, 2016 @11:44AM (#12238459)

Here apparently it isn't if you mask it. That's not the same as removing it, but your local police might have a different opinion.

Whether or not it is effective is another matter (and that's hoping there is only one instance of the VIN on your car, there may be other, less obvious ones for instance bar-codes).

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Re:Car Thieves Arrested After Using Laptop and Malware to St... by kaikai on Saturday August 06, 2016 @11:38AM (#12238436)

That's why they said "mask off" instead of "file off". On some (many? all?) cars the VIN is stamped on a plate that's visible through the windshield.

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