Car hacker strikes!

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Omar Ramos-Lopez, Laid Off Employee, Remotely Disables 100 Cars



DALLAS A man fired from a Texas auto dealership used an Internet service to remotely disable ignitions and set off car horns of more than 100 vehicles sold at his old workplace, police said Wednesday. ...
 
Proves my point that people with hyphenated names are often strange and not to be trusted.



If their parents can settle on a name, what kind of an indecisive, non-commital upbringing must they have had????



:banana:



TJR
 
Tom,



My point is that, with vehicles becoming more & more computerized, he has shown car thieves another way to steal a vehicles. Now someone, maybe you, has to come up with a way to lock down the vehicles computer. And, we have to spend more money to buy the securitey device.
 
My point is that, with vehicles becoming more & more computerized, he has shown car thieves another way to steal a vehicles. Now someone, maybe you, has to come up with a way to lock down the vehicles computer. And, we have to spend more money to buy the securitey device.



Rodger, the security device is what allowed this person to sabotage them. Had they not had an on-board satellite activated system, this wouldn't have happened.
 
Did not read the article, but willing to bet it is a GM dealership with its On-Star system in it.



Am I right?





Tom
 
I will never buy a vehicle with On-Star...whether you pay the monthly fee or not someone now has the ability to hack your car.



If I were to ever buy new GM product, I would make the dealership remove the On-Star or they would lose the sale.
 
Yeah...and I know this will sound paranoid but....how do you know it can't be activated amd a government agency or just some inside employee could listen to your conversations and track your every move. Just a thought



'07 ST:throwup:
 
The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to repossessing vehicles that havent been paid for. Operated by Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The dealer can disable a cars ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a running vehicle.



Ramos-Lopezs account had been closed when he was terminated from Texas Auto Center in a workforce reduction last month, but he allegedly got in through another employees account, Garcia says. At first, the intruder targeted vehicles by searching on the names of specific customers. Then he discovered he could pull up a database of all 1,100 Auto Center customers whose cars were equipped with the device. He started going down the list in alphabetical order, vandalizing the records, disabling the cars and setting off the horns.



Omar was pretty good with computers, says Garcia.









 
Does that apply to Ford Sync too?



Sync is not connected to a satellite system that can track where you are at all times.



The most it can do is use your cell phone to dial 911 if you are in an accident. (using bluetooth that you must set up initially)





Tom
 
But wouldn't that be like your cell phone when you dial 911 or use it at all for that matter. You can be tracked via cell tower. Pretty much the same thing isn't it?
 
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