This is probably less security theater and more not-getting-sued theater.

Sued for what? It's rather the manufacturer should be sued for selling insecure vehicles. And slapped by authorities too.

But the practice is far too commonly to sue the discloser rather than the manufacturer of the software.

That’s what you get for posting shit like this under your real name for the sake of “portfolio”

I miss the web being less career focused and more crazy

Images and touchscreens have ruined the internet indeed.

Humanity has a long tradition of shooting the messenger.

And the message.

Many countries have very broad cybercrime laws - like prohibitions on "gaining unauthorised access to a computer system". And in some countries, even when you're in the right going to court can be a costly and time-consuming endeavour.

I know it seems like no such laws exist, as almost all serious cyber-crime is cross-border and done anonymously, making it nigh-impossible to prosecute.

But when you're an honest cybersecurity researcher, posting your findings openly under your own name? You're one of the few people who can be prosecuted.

Based on my experience in this industry, every brand does this, has done this, and is currently building out a replacement for their current system that does this in a slightly different way.

It's almost like something is happening to make sure this happens endlessly. It's probably nothing

Better locks also increase the time to break them. More time == more chances to be disturbed and have to go away and also an incentive to move on to the next house, bike, etc. In the case of bicycles I also advice to lock them close to much better bikes with similar locks: chances are that the thief will invest those 30 seconds to break the lock of the better looking bike.

Giving a high quality bike lock to your neighbors is a great gift idea!

Security by Polish obscurity. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/obskurny

Best bike security advice I every had was to spray paint my bike pink all over.

I do the same thing but with luggage. My checked bag is teal/magenta/chartreuse paisley.

The best advice I’ve seen is to use a chain or cable tightly tied to the bike, no slack, so that using a large cutter becomes very difficult.

Yes but that anyone can open my car halfway across the world for the lulz is another matter.

locks exist to prove unwanted entry more than they exist to prevent it. They prevent "casual" attackers as in they also prevent opportunistic attackers. They increase the level of premeditation necessary which in turn increases the risk for the attacker due to having much less of a sustainable defense.

ultimately, nearly everything can be destroyed in such a way as to gain whatever access to anything that you want.

A trustless society is a pipedream, but security theater creates an emphasis that limits plausible deniability. an attacker can no longer claim they targeted something they believed no one cared about, or that wasnt a big deal. For example, the level of theater involved in the TSA does not exist to catch every possible threat to aircraft. It exists so if anyone is dumb enough to smuggle a weapon through it and get caught then security can arguably gun them down on the spot. without the theater, the social contract is less obvious, and the plausible deniability for the attacker is stronger