Stealing a car no longer requires a pry bar and an understanding of how to rewire an ignition. Increasingly, it seems, all a criminal needs is a laptop.Hackers have shown that they cantake remote control of a Jeep Cherokee while someone is driving it.That means they could, in theory at least, cut the engine or brakes while the car was in motion.But theres now a more fundamental problem for car owners, and a more attractive proposition for criminals: high-tech theft.Earlier this year, avideo was published onlinethatshowed a pair of car thieves using a laptop to steal a 2010 Jeep Wrangler. The hack that they used hasnt been described in detail, though its not thought to be related to another hack of a Jeep Cherokee last year.While the technique does appear to require that the criminals break into the car and physically connect a computer to itsinternal systems (its not clear via which kind of interface), once theyre in, thieves can get the car started without a key.And its been working pretty well for them.Autoblog reportedthat a pair of hackers were arrested in Houston recently for using the approach to stealmore than 30 Jeeps over a six-month period. Fiat Chrysler Automobiles, Jeeps parent company, is believed to be investigating over 100 vehicle thefts that were carried out recently using similar methods.Those numbers may yet rise furthermuch further. Computer scientists from the University of Birmingham, U.K., have announced details of a new wireless hack that can be used to unlock almost every Volkswagen group car sold since 1995. Theirtechniquewhich can be performed using a laptop and software-defined radio or a $40 handful of off-the-shelf electrical componentscan be used to re-create the unlock signals sent by a drivers key fob.The team hasexplained toWiredthat it reverse-engineered the code in Volkswagens security systems in order to identify cryptographic keys used to encode those unlock signals.To their surprise, the team found that just four different cryptographic keys are used foras many as 100 million vehicles.Aftercapturing another cryptographic key from the signals sent as a driver unlocks the car door, the researcherscan combine the two numbers to unlock the target vehicle themselves.The team points out that some of Volkswagens latest vehicles, including the Golf 7, use a more robust security system, where both cryptographic keys are unique to each vehicle.Criminals also have to be within 300 feet of vehicle theyre seeking to steal. But given that the flaw affects virtually every Volkswagengroup carsold in the last 20 years,including those made by Audi and 'koda, its still a significant issue.Details of the reverse-engineering involved in the study havent been published, but you can bet that other criminals will be seeking to find out the secrets for themselves.Cars areincreasingly being developed by software engineers as well as mechanical engineers. As vehicles become more computerized and connected, the threat posed by computer flaws could get far worse. While neither of the latest hacks exploit the use of a cars Internet connections, its easy enough to imagine similar, potentially more serious problems also plaguing vehicles(such as the Tesla fleet, for example)that use cellular networks to access data and updates from the Web.Automakers appear to be taking the issue seriously. GM CEO Mary Barrarecently declaredautomotive cyber incidents a matter of public safety, explaining that whether it is phishing or spyware, malware or ransomware, the attacks are getting more and more sophisticated every day.The Alliance of Automobile Manufacturers and the Association of Global Automakers have also released new best practices on automotive security, which include recommendations about digital vulnerabilities. But the car industry moves at a very different pace from that ofthe technology sector, and cars yet to roll off the production line arelikely to remain vulnerable to hacks for some time to come.So far its unclear what Fiat Chrysler and Volkswagen will do aboutthe flaws that put their vehicles at risk of theft. Last years remote-control hack of a Jeep Cherokee resulted in a recall of 1.4 million vehicles. It wont be the last.Join the conversation about this storyNOW WATCH: This Excel trick will save you time and impress your boss
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