One of the reason's why I have a subscription to Wired Magazine is that it covers interesting criminal justice stories which relate to the high-tech world that we all live in. But what really caught my attention about the story "Pinch My Ride" (Article available on line July 31st) was the fact that it opened with Emad Wassaf, a 38 year-old truck driver and reserve Los Angeles Police officer, who had his 2003 Navigator stolen from a parking lot of a Target store in Orange County, CA.
Emad saw no sign of a break-in, his car just wasn't in the lot. Doing what anyone would do, he contacted his insurance company and reported the theft to the police. Two weeks later his car was recovered near the Mexican border with the Stereo, Air Bags, DVD Player, and door panels all stripped. His Insurance company denied the clam thinking Emad was lying.
Writer Brad Stone explains how easy it is for a thief to "Jack" a car using PDA's, cloned keys, and even Social Engineering. Stone even explained what happened to his trusty car which appeared to have been taken for a joyride. Working with the San Francisco Police Department, Stone was referred to a mechanic who was able to get the secret code to jump start his car without using his keys. Using a series of pushes and pulls on the emergency break, which are randomly assigned to Honda's and pared with their VINs, Stone was able to start his car without his keys.
My car has a key-less entry system and an electronic control module which reads the transponder signal from my key in order to start the engine. This system is not immune, there is nothing stopping a person from cloning my clicker and getting into my car. If an RFID tag can be cloned (and the developers said that it was impossible) why smash a window when it can look like you own the car. One thief mentioned in the article was even bold enough to steal two Mercedes S430's from car lots in Monterey and Pleasanton. Not just one was good enough, he took two!
No matter how you slice it, this is still "B and E" (Breaking and Entering). If your doors are locked and your windows are up, the penalty goes from a misdemeanor to a felony, the same should be the case here. Hacking, cloning, and using "Contra"-Style codes to enter a vehicle is still committing a crime. Can local police departments keep up with the braniacs that seem to be always a step ahead of the law?
