Stealing a Prius by Hacking the Smart Key System

Down here we have professional thieves, stealing HD trucks for drug / human smuggling from Mexico. They like Fords better than GMs because there is no need to defeat the OnStar locator once stolen.

Then you have the addicts looking for quick cash. I think the Infiniti wheel job was the addicts handy work.

Our Juvis tends to commit harder crimes than just egging cars.

This USED to be a nice place. A murder a year was big news. Now, one every 2 weeks and no one pays attention anymore.

 

Pathetic Have to move out in the boonies to get away from all the crap that towns collect now a days. Once the house values climb out of the hole around here, we are out'a here.

Mike

 

Our criminal justice system is too soft. In Les Miserable, Jean Valjean did 19 years for stealing a loaf of bread. Talk about deterrent.

 

Same around here. I asked the officer if he wanted to bring the egg shells in to dust for prints and he said nah that isn't necessary. Really, so we have to spend several hundred for cameras just to catch the punk down the street? Pathetic.

Mike

 

They don't seem too eager to act. I did not think the cops dusted the car for prints in the break ins last year. As far as I know all they did was taking a report, provided the victim with a report number so they could file a claim with insurance.

 

Lame cops. Prints could be in the system but they'll never know being lazy. Hope your car stays put in the lot.

Mike

 

This seems like it might be best suited to use by Repo companies and organized crime. I doubt that small-time crooks will have sufficient financial and technical resources to make this work for them.

 

Go egg his house and blame it on his friends.

 

Yea that would be cool. Have to think of something. Looking at cameras and DVR's right now.

Mike

 

Or send the dogs out... I grabbed my Lab and my GSP and greeted a "salesperson" at the door. He asked if they bite and I told him, I think so, they have teeth....

I lived on a farm and once had my shotgun in my hands when someone tried to pay me a visit. I was cleaning it but that unwanted visitor left my porch pretty darn fast. I was off the beaten path and it was rare that people would drive up my driveway.

1200 lbs of kicking Thoroughbred also is a deterrent... Had a photographer try to sell aerial pics of the farm to me while I was trying to load her on a trailer for a lesson. Really, dude?!

Mike (WE0H), hope you catch the punk that egged your car... It's a good thing he is not in my area... He would be locked up playing "Cornholio" for sure if he wasn't picking birdshot out of his backside!

 

I like you!

SAMSUNG-SGH-I747 ? 2

 

Back to the original topic...

There has been some discussion about how to get a keyfob for a salvage car that came with none. One suggestion was a matched set ECU and keyfob from a junkyard.

One ECU isn't enough. The number is at least 2, and maybe 3 that have to be replaced. The key ECU has to be "introduced" to the other ECUs using Techstream.

The dealer method for handling a no-keys situation is to do a power off seed reset of the key ECU. Part of the seed reset procedure is Techstream issues a challenge number, and the proper 6 digit reply seed is required to continue. Dealers get the seed off a secure website. There is a guy in Lithuania who sells seeds online for something like $30. He obviously reverse engineered Techstream enough to calculate a seed.

So it is technically possible to hack the seed process.

The next problem for a thief is that the seed reset includes a 16 minute delay before a new keyfob can be programmed. Not a problem in a safe location, but most places where a car is stolen from are not conducive to hanging around for about 20 minutes.

The SKS system is good protection against theft, but there are still things that can be done to make theft more difficult. An alarm system with some sort of start blocking would help. A simple switch in the brake light circuit would disable normal starting.

 

Scary that it can be hacked.... Would love to see a system that reads fingerprints or something and if it is someone doesn't belong, they get zapped and an alarm goes off.

We've got the juice stored under the seat...use it for theft protection!

 

Another security issue besides vehicle theft and content theft that I have been thinking about is vandalism. Back in 2004, there were reports of Prii getting vandalized in CA and OR. They attributed to vandals targeting "greenies", as a political statement. In 2008, when gas price spiked, more Prii were targeted, because some pissed off low lives thought the Prius owners had it too good with their MPGs and they had to pay some other way.

Prius had gone a lot more mainstream since then. I do not know if Prii are more prone to hate crimes and vandalism today, than an average car. A Google search of the topic brings up reports from 2004 and 2008, and nothing recent. But it is still in the back of my mind, when it comes to parking it in public.

 

Maybe it was in answer to this.
Radicals Target SUVs in Series of Southland Attacks - Los Angeles Times

 

So what do you have against sharks?

 

This is a pretty harsh statement. You are blaming the low man on the totem pole, for an issue that resides higher up - as in departmental rule makers and the justice system. Have you considered that, just maybe, the police officers would like to catch, prosecute and take criminals off of the street, yet are bound by policies instituted because of budgetary constraints or a workload to employee ratio that precludes them from handling an egging with as much fervor as a homicide?

I certainly agree it sucks they couldn't do more, but 1) I don't think you can print a textured surface, and 2) DNA testing is prohibitively expensive for a charge that likely will receive a dismissal in most parts of this country.

Just saying...

EVO ? 2

 

This is a funny turn for this topic. Blame the TV shows. Getting prints isn't that easy. It must be done within a few hours, and only works on -some- surfaces. Then there is the extensive work and time involved in identifying the print. All for a cheap car or a $60 vandalism charge? People expect the -FICTION- they see on TV to be real and get upset when the police can't do it in reality!

Hacking a Prius is just too much work. Look at the list of most stolen vehicles. Most don't have security systems. Thieves are lazy and not too smart. They go for the "low hanging fruit". If they want the parts from your car a flatbed will work fine. Gone in 60 seconds!

As for alarms, just ask the actor who was interviewed on TV about his car being stolen. He watched and listened as the alarm faded into the distance.

Note that those with -expensive- cars have their homes broken into, get threatened and have to give the thief their keys and any money they may have. It's the easiest way to steal a car with good security. The University guys who originally showed how "easy" it was to spoof a Prius' system have no sense of reality. They worked at it for months. They are a -little- smarter than the average thief!!

The best theft deterrent system is a locked garage that is hard to break into.

The best theft protection system is good insurance.

 

It's easier to mug you and steal your key fob if they really want to steal your car....