Report: Criminals Now Hack, Start And Then Steal Vehicles

Authorities in the US have sounded an alert to a new trend of car thefts in which criminals are reportedly using a laptop to steal vehicles, Network World reports. Police and insurance agencies, as per a report in The Wall Street Journal, say that the thieves hack into the electronic ignitions of late-model cars using their laptop and then are able to start the vehicles.

According to the National Insurance Crime Bureau (NICB), police reports have lately been connecting newer-model car thefts with "mystery" electronic devices, while an FBI alert focused on vulnerabilities in vehicles that allowed them to be remotely controlled. Houston police even released footage of a car theft which involved use of a laptop.

Roger Morris of NICB believes thieves manipulate the car’s computer using their laptop in order to “recognize a signal sent from an electronic key the thief then uses to turn on the ignition.”

Read full story at Network World.