the growing danger of high tech car thieves
TRANSCRIPT
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.
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.
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.
This technology can be really handy for vehicle owners, but it opens the door for savvy high tech car thieves as well.
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.
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.
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?
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.
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.
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.
For their part, car manufacturers are
working as quickly as possible to address the
danger of high tech thieves and hackers.