Thieves stealing cars with laptops

Remember the movie Gone in 60 Seconds where Nicolas Cage and Angelina Jolie were able to steal fancy cars by just reaching under the dash for a few seconds? Things have changed. Cars are supposed to be almost impossible to steal now thanks to onboard computer systems. Well, surprising no one, thieves have found a way around keyless entry and ignition systems. Normally the cars need the special key fob to unlock the doors and fire up the ignition, but a software program on a laptop can now break into the security system on the vehicles.

It takes up to 20 minutes for the laptop to decrypt the system, so the cars need to be in a secluded area where people won’t notice a guy with a lap top loitering. British soccer superstar (and Spice Girl spouse) David Beckham had two BMW X5s stolen over the last six months by thieves likely using this kind of system. Obviously more software will pop up and the problem will become more widespread until manufacturers again take steps to move ahead of thieves.