The growing danger of high tech car thieves

The Growing Danger Of High Tech Car Thieves

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.

How To Stop High Tech Car Thieves

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.

Install a mechanical steering wheel lock.

But why go old school?

Technology is always a double edged sword.

Take the new version of the old car key, the fob.

You know, the device that can start your car without you even having to be inside it.

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.

With this connection comes a myriad of potential vulnerabilities that car owners will have to face.

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.

High Tech Car Thieves Thrive On New Technology

For their part, car manufacturers are

working as quickly as possible to address the

danger of high tech thieves and hackers.

The problem is that they are actually working against themselves.

Every time they introduce some new technological advancement in one of their vehicles, they are

simultaneously opening the door for high tech car thieves and hackers to walk right through, meaning they are always

playing catch up with themselves.