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Tesla Model 3 Stolen from Mall of America Using Smartphone
- maerF0x0 8y agoBefore luddites get in arms about "This would never happen with normal keys" ... Nothing stopping someone from making a copy of the keys _after renting the car_ and coming back later to use them.
- jiveturkey 8y agoWell, yes there is. Many if not most new cars require the ECU to be programmed to accept a new key. That's how typical theft deterrence works today. You must also have possession of all keys to be programmed. You can't just add a key and leave the others in place.
- grecy 8y ago> You must also have possession of all keys to be programmed. You can't just add a key and leave the others in place. Sure, if you do it at the dealer. Find someone with a programmer and they can add a key without having the other keys - I've done it myself on my own vehicle.
- neuralRiot 8y agoDepends on the car, newer models need a special authorization to access security related ECUs
- grecy 8y agoOfficially, yes, but virtually all of them have a bypass programmer ~6 months after the vehicle is released.
- lnsru 8y agoCopying keys nowadays require some car hacking knowledge. If you can copy the keys easily, you can get easily better job than stealing cars. And if one wants to steal THAT car, there is no way to stop it. It might just take longer.
- maerF0x0 8y agoSeems the thief in this story is a kind of counter argument to your point. He didnt seem to prefer the jobs available to him versus stealing the car.
- neuralRiot 8y agoIt didn't work very well for him though, except for the joyride that is.
- got2surf 8y agoGetting a replacement car key made is a surprisingly slow/expensive process for most modern cars (not as easy as a replacement house key at Home Depot, for example)
- fucking_tragedy 8y agoI still keep my decade old beater around, and even that thing isn't susceptible to someone making a new key at Home Depot.
- jandrese 8y agoLike most "hacking" instances in real life this was an exploit of the service desk. He called Tesla support and had the VIN (easily readable through the windshield as required by law) added to his account so he could use the app on his phone to access the car. This seems like a big security hole, but it puts a giant arrow on the thief that lets them be caught easily. It's a trap for dumb thieves. Basically only good for going for a joyride. Tesla definitely needs to harden their support desk however, because that's just embarrassingly bad.
- pythonaut_16 8y agoCouldn't the thief pretty easily set up an account and call from a burner phone?
- amelius 8y agoDoesn't the car have a built-in GPS tracker anyway?
- deleted 8y ago[deleted]
- briffle 8y agoThat the thief disabled. They tracked him via superCharger stops.
- jlg23 8y agoFrom the article: "Since this person disabled GPS tracking on the car, the owner had to utilize a different method of tracking down the alleged crook."
- rad_gruchalski 8y agoA gps jammer can be picked up for $20 on ebay.
- jandrese 8y agoDepends if you need to buy a Tesla first to set up an account.
- jiveturkey 8y ago> without ever needing a key That's disingenuous and the author knows it. Just prior they state that the thief had to call in to Tesla to get authorized.
- tux1968 8y agoThey mean without a traditional physical key.
- jiveturkey 8y agoyes but there's no difference in this case between a traditional key and an electronic key. A key, of some sort, was required. He didn't do some fancy hack of the car as if he could walk up to any Tesla anywhere and steal it.
- jstarfish 8y agoIt seems that by your logic, any bypass of a car's authentication system functions as a surrogate key. Punching out an ignition column with a screwdriver and jumping wires is no more having a key than calling customer service and fooling them into transferring remote control to you. In all cases, you don't have what is commonly understood to be "a key," yet you leave with what you came for. The common vernacular has an accepted definition of what it means to require a key to do something. Given that this is a criminal matter, you'd have a hard time convincing a jury of yokels to share your understanding.
- jiveturkey 8y agoHe didn't (locally) bypass the car's authentication system. As far as the car is concerned, he used a proper key. I'm not sure what your comment about a jury of yokel's refers to. I clearly do not mean that he didn't actually steal the car. It doesn't matter if that was with a key or not. "without a key" is clearly meant to imply that he walked right up. But what he actually did is the equivalent of copying an existing key. IOW, he had a "key" made.
- jplayer01 8y agoClever, but the same case shows the difficulty of getting away with it, even if you are able to steal a Tesla. He was tracked by his use of the supercharging network, which allowed law enforcement to find and arrest him a few days later.
- SilasX 8y agoWhich is good news if you live in a locality where recovering traceable stolen cars is a law enforcement priority.
- jstarfish 8y agoRecovering cars is a low priority for a reason. Auto recovery has a terrible success rate. The goal is to get them chopped or into containers for overseas consumption. You will eventually be caught if you keep driving it around.
- Alupis 8y agoCould he not have just charged without using the superchargers?
- selectout 8y agoTSLA most certainly could have tracked it just using the GPS and woken the car (or even bricked it) remotely. Superchargers may have been used, but definitely weren't needed to track this vehicle.
- LeoPanthera 8y agoFrom the article: "Since this person disabled GPS tracking on the car, the owner had to utilize a different method of tracking down the alleged crook." I don't own a Tesla, but this implies it's possible to turn the GPS off.
- jplayer01 8y agoWho's going to use a Tesla without superchargers? At some point, somebody will.
- neuralRiot 8y ago>... enabling the convenience of driving using only one's phone is a luxury which most people have yet to experience just how insanely convenient it can be. Imagine the inconvenience of having to pull out the key like if it was the 20th century. This is idiotic as now you have the added problem that your car will be stolen for using "password" as a password.
- SEJeff 8y agoThere is a new feature called "Pin To Drive" which would have likely foiled most of this "attack". https://electrek.co/2018/08/29/tesla-new-security-cryptography-pin-to-drive-feature/ https://electrek.co/2018/08/29/tesla-new-security-cryptograp... I strongly encourage anyone with a Tesla (I have a Model 3) to enable Pin to Drive: Controls > Safety and Security > PIN to Drive
- driverdan 8y agoIt's a rental car. They're not going to add a PIN.