Honda Cars : Burglar tries to break in Judge Lillian Sing's car | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

This is just pathetic.... I wish the Judicial system would grow some teeth....

Judge Lillian Sing got a taste of judicial medicine the other day when a convicted car burglar she was trying to help walked out of her San Francisco courtroom and, within minutes, was busted for allegedly breaking into her car.
Phillip Bernard was in Community Court on Tuesday for a check of his progress while on probation for an auto burglary conviction.
Bernard, who is homeless, had missed an earlier appearance and had failed to follow his probation requirements. "I wasn't too happy with him," Sing said.
But Community Court is set up to get people help, not send them to jail for minor infractions. So Sing let him off with a stern admonishment.
"I told him he had better get into a harm reduction program and get going with a job search," Sing said.
No sooner did Sing's gavel go down, however, than Bernard exited the Polk Street courtroom, went around to the alley in back, pulled out a weighted sock and smashed the rear passenger window of a car, police said.
As fate would have it, a couple of beat cops were passing by. They nabbed Bernard, ran the car's plate and bingo - up popped the judge's name.
"He did it right under my nose," Sing said.
Bernard, 32, is now back behind bars, facing another auto burglary charge.
His next court date is Tuesday, this time in Superior Court.
As for this validating those who say Community Court is just a revolving door for petty criminals like Bernard?
"He's just one of 1,600 we deal with," Sing said. "Most of them do really well."
Maybe - but this is the one who is going to be remembered.

Source (via www.carscoop.blogspot.com);

http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2012/06/10/BADI1OVAHM.DTL&tsp=1

Honda Cars : Canada's Top 10 List of Most Stolen Cars for 2011 | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Huh?!?!?According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, the 2009 Toyota Venza 4-door was the most popular car in Canada to be stolen by car thieves.

Yesterday, the Insurance Bureau of Canada (IBC) released its annual list of the top 10 vehicles stolen in Canada. The 2009 Toyota Venza 4-door can now shout "we're number one" after replacing the 2000 Honda Civic SiR that took top honours in 2010. That model of Honda dropped down to third place this year.

According to Statistics Canada, vehicle thefts, along with other property crimes, are dropping. In 2010, 15,300 fewer vehicles were stolen throughout the country than were taken during the previous year. But the IBC notes that while these thefts have dropped, so has the recovery rate. This suggests a lot of thefts are carried out by organized crime as opposed to young people out to have a little fun.

Rick Dubin, Vice-President, Investigative Services, Insurance Bureau of Canada, said,
We're doing a good job of stopping stolen vehicles at the ports. Our data indicates that we are not seeing many of these vehicles there. We have to conclude that stolen vehicles are being re-sold locally. But because these stolen vehicles are in these local markets, buyers need to be careful.
The Insurance Bureau of Canada advises the public to only purchase vehicles from reputable dealers and to trace the history of the car. Similarly, when repairs are needed, consumers should only deal with legitimate auto repair shops. There is a lucrative market for parts taken from high end cars, crossovers, and trucks.

The IBC advises if anyone is looking for a reputable repair or auto body shop, they can contact an insurance company or the IBC.

The IBC's list of most frequently stolen vehicles is as follows:
1. 2009 Toyota Venza 4-door
2. 1999 Honda Civic SiR 2-door
3. 2000 Honda Civic SiR 2-door
4. 2006 Ford F350 Pickup Truck 4WD
5. 2002 Cadillac Escalade EXT 4-door
6. 2006 Chevrolet TrailBlazer SS 4-door 4WD
7. 2007 Ford F350 Pickup Truck 4 WD
8. 2001 Pontiac Aztek 4-door AWD
9. 1998 Accura Integra 2-door
10. 1999 Acura Integra 2-door

Source;
http://www.digitaljournal.com/article/316130#ixzz1gcKDG9BV

Honda Cars : Hackers break into Subaru Outback via text message | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

By Christopher Trout posted Aug 4th 2011 5:17PM

We've already seen SCADA systems controlled by Google Search, and now the Black Hat Technical Security Conference is offering up yet another slice of cringe-inducing hacker pie. A pair of pros from iSec Partners security firm was able to unlock and start the engine of a Subaru Outback using an Android phone and a process they call war texting. By setting up their own GSM network, they were able to snatch up password authentication messages being sent from server to car, allowing them the option to ride off in a brand new crossover. Apparently, your car isn't the only thing in danger of a war-texting takeover, however, as the team says there are a slew of devices and systems, accessible over telephone networks, that are vulnerable to similar attacks, including A-GPS tracking devices, 3G security cameras, SCADA sensors -- and thus the power grid and water supply -- home automation, and urban traffic control systems. Somehow this group of otherwise innocent looking New York texters appears a whole lot more sinister now.

Source (via www.autoblog.com);
http://www.engadget.com/2011/08/04/hackers-break-into-subaru-outback-via-text-message/

Honda Cars : Researchers beat automatic locking and ignition systems. | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

I never did like this feature, I am glad that Honda hasn't jumped on board with this yet....
Car Theft by Antenna
Researchers beat automatic locking and ignition systems.
By Erica Naone

Car thieves of the future might be able to get into a car and drive away without forced entry and without needing a physical key, according to new research that will be presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium next month in San Diego, California.

The researchers successfully attacked eight car manufacturers' passive keyless entry and start systems—wireless key fobs that open a car's doors and start the engine by proximity alone.

Srdjan Capkun, an assistant professor of computer science in the system security group at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who led the work, says he was inspired to investigate the security of keyless entry and start systems after buying a car that had one. Capkun and Aurélien Francillon and Boris Danev, both researchers in the same institution, examined 10 car models from the eight manufacturers. They were able to access all 10 and drive them away by intercepting and relaying signals from the cars to their wireless keys. While they could relay the signals from the key back to the car as well, usually they did not need to because the key transmits its signals up to around 100 meters. The attack works no matter what cryptography and protocols the key and car use to communicate with each other.

Normally, when a wireless key is within a few meters of the right car, it detects a low-powered signal that causes it to issue a command that opens the car enable the ignition. The researchers used a pair of antennas to transmit these signals from the car to the key when the key was farther away, tricking the car into opening without the ordinary authorization. One antenna needs to be very close to the car, and one needs to be within eight meters of the key.

The researchers came up with two versions of the attack. In one, they ran a cable from near the car to near the key and used it to transmit the signals. They conducted the other wirelessly.

Francillon says that the materials for the wired attack cost about $50, and those for the wireless attack cost between $100 and $1,000, depending on the electronic components used.

The researchers tested a few scenarios. An attacker could watch a parking lot and have an accomplice watch as car owners as entered a nearby store. The accomplice would only need to be within eight meters of the targeted owner's key fob, making it easy to avoid arousing suspicion.

In another scenario, a car owner might leave a car key on a table near a window. An antenna placed outside the house was able to communicate with the key, allowing the researchers then to start the car parked out front and drive away.

A car won't open or start if the signal from its key takes too long to arrive, so the researchers devised a way to speed communication between their antennas. Most relay attacks require the signals to be converted from analog to digital and back, which takes time. The researchers were able to keep the signals in analog format, which reduced their delay from microseconds to nanoseconds and made their attack more difficult to detect.

The researchers suggest things that car owners and manufacturers can do to protect themselves. Car owners can shield their keys when they're not in use, to prevent attackers from communicating with them. Alternatively, manufacturers could add a button to fobs that would allow owners to deactivate and reactivate them. Capkun worries, however, that these types of solutions detract from the convenience that makes passive keyless entry systems worthwhile.
Ultimately, he says, manufacturers will need to add secure technology that allows the car to confirm that the key is in fact nearby. "I don't see a way around it," Capkun says. His group is actively working on protocols that would accomplish this.

David Wagner, a professor of computer science at the University of California at Berkeley who has studied the cryptographic systems used in keyless entry systems, says the research "should help car manufacturers improve auto security systems in the future."

Wagner doesn't think the research ought to make car owners anxious. "There are probably easier ways to steal cars," he says. But, he adds, a "nasty aspect of high-tech car theft" is that "it doesn't leave any sign of forced entry," so if a thief did use this method to steal a car, he says, it might be hard for police and insurance companies to get sufficient evidence of what happened. Wagner believes that manufacturers, police, and insurance companies all need to prepare for this eventuality.

"Automobiles are a key example of a system that is pervasively computerized," so they need to be thoroughly examined to ensure they are secure, says Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science at the University of Washington. Kohno helped form the Center for Automotive Embedded Systems Security, which is dedicated to identifying and solving security problems with car security systems before they cause problems in the real world.

Source;
http://www.technologyreview.com/computing/27037/page1/?a=f

Honda Cars : Infographic: High-Tech Combo Could Yield "Theft-Proof" Car | 2013 New Honda Car Reviews 0

Interesting....
GPS tracking, cell-network tracking, immobilizers, and secure key fobs are all common these days, but what if you were to roll all of the anti-theft technology available on the market into a single car? Would it be possible to theft-proof it? This infographic attempts to answer that question.

The proposed "theft proof" car packs in everything but the cops themselves. Combining GPS tracking, GSM cellular remote fuel cutoff and communication, biometric secure ignition tech, a keyless alarm system, a passive immobilizer, ultrasonic interior monitoring, and a radio-frequency transmitter to signal the car's location to police, the "theft proof" car certainly looks very, very had to steal at the least. There are banks that would be easier to rob and get away from.

In addition to the high-tech proposal, the infographic contains some key stats about car theft in the U.S., so spend a few minutes and figure out if it's worth the trouble to make your car a mobile anti-theft command center. Then let us know what you think in the comments below.

Source;
http://www.motorauthority.com/blog/1048585_infographic-high-tech-combo-could-yield-theft-proof-car