Laid Off Worker Remotely Disables Over 100 Cars

This technology exists on all new model cars with a computer. Onstar can disable a "stolen" car. They have a commercial about it now. Think of those implications in relation to this hacker story. Blows your mind to just even go down that road. Big Brother is here now! It's just a matter of who Big Brother is working for... car credit companies, GM/FORD, the police/govt.???

Computer intrusion ..............what a joke this cyber terrorism and life in prison should be the punishment for these hackers ,thats the only way we will deter this. How can we as a culture depend more and more on electronic media of all types when these types are going around messing things up?

The customers have belly ached for all sorts of tech things to be put into their cars. They have cried and cried to have everything from telephones to tv's and more. All a car should be is a means of transportation and skip all the frills. Serves the spoiled public right. Bring back the cars of the 60's and forget the fancy do-dads.

I for one think that what this guy did was great. Not because because he was mad at his employer but rather it brings attention to the sleazy world of car dealers.
I mean has anyone gone to this auto dealerships website and seen the prices that these goons are trying to sell their trash for?
Talk about bilking people!!!
I mean a 10 year old domestic car with over 100k on the odometer that is not even a luxury vehicle for 9k?......what is up with that?....I mean an old Chevy is an old Chevy!!
These guys need to quit selling to people who are down on their luck or should not be in the USA at all.
This dealership obviously specializes in bottom feeding to get customers. I hope that they go out of business

Personally I will not purchase an automobile from a dealer (most are buy here pay here types) that use the remote cutoff. I do know they can malfunction and this could be very dangerous especially to ladies who work late nights and must depend on their car starting immediately for safety. They say they won't cut off while running,however my nephew was in a serious car crash and its believed that his remote cutoff device malfunctioned and disabled the engine while in a sharp curve during a heavy rain. He was in serious condition in the hospital and the dealership reclaimed the wreckage sending it to the scrap yard before this was realized preventing an investigation. So if you decide to buy a car do your best to avoid these unsafe and insecure devices. Your life might depend on it!

This is hilarious. I see all the repossessed credit union cars on repofinder.com and I wonder how soon this is going to happen again.

RC is correct. These devices are not tested, nor are they manufactured, to any kind of specification. They can, and do, malfunction. They're built using the same cheap components/technology as car alarms and are not to be trusted. The best advice is to not buy a car equiped with one. Also, the buy here/pay here "dealers" that typicaly use them are nothing more than loan sharks. They take enormous down payments and charge huge interest rates. The cut offs are set to lock/disable your car at midnight the day your payment is due-especially nice for the third shift working ladies. I'll never have a car with one and I'll never use one of the "Texas iron pile dealers" that use them.

Tiffany mentioned "Onstar" as having the same capability. She's right, however the finance company can't use it unless it's in the contract. That doesn't preclude it being misused or malfunctioning. I've got a Corvette with a built in security system and it used to shut off the engine and/or set off the horn spontaneously. I've stll got the 'vette, but it don't have that techno crap anymore!!!

i agree

Sounds like a new game in town, steal a car and see how fast you can pull the "disaibled ignision" program off the computer, or by pass it, before they find out it's stolen.

Everyone complains about the price of the cars and the device to disable the car. These are places that sell to people who have lousy credit and are known for not making payments. These are not people who pay a day or two late or innocent women working third shift. They are trying to get a Lexus on a Chevy budget and figure even if I only have it for a little while, at least I have it. The dealer charges a lot because there is a lot of risk. They put the device on because more times than not they don't get their money.

If you don't want to pay that much... pay your bills!
If you don't want your car shut off... pay your bills!
Simple.

Not a lot of love lost here on car dealers. But, there are private sellers out there if you don't like doing business with dealerships. Most important, who twisted your arm and made you buy a car you didn't want? You can always turn down an offer you don't like.

I never did like the whole Onstar idea to begin with and this is just another reason why I'll stick with the classics, my newest car is a 1989 IROC-Z and the oldest is a 65 Pontiac Tempest, both in very pristine condition, I just don't like the idea that someone at the government's behest could locate me and disable my vehicle remotely. Not that I make a habit of participating in illegal activities. I just don't like to cede my privacy and mobility and on my cell phone the "location" option is turned off but they could still get a fix on my aprximate location by tracing which cell towers it was connected through, they can keep their potentialy remote controlled cars

We need a "remote disable switch" for chishui88's computer!

Here's a scenario for you; some one let's a young lady in mid to late 20s gets a new job with a significant pay increase. She has great credit a nice amount of money in her savings enough for a decent down payment. So she decides to trade in her old clunker and treat herself to a new car. She deserves it; why not she's worked very hard. But here's the thing her company after she's been there 3 or 4 months goes under. Not just bankrupt but shuts Completely down. So what is she going to do? She calls her parents. They tell her that she can move back home temporarily but they can't help her in any way financially. But that's ok she tells them because she already has a new job waiting for her. So she gets herself together. Packs her car with all of her bare necessities, and off she goes. Only about halfway on her 1100 mile journey out in the middle of nowhere her car company (because she's late maybe just a couple weeks) decides to shut her car off to remind her to pay her bill that she had already duscussed with them and made payment arrangements. Ok here she is in the middle of nowhere her cell can't get a signal no stores or gas stations absolutely nothing. When just then a couple of guys pull up and ask her if she needs any "help". I guess you get the picture. There are so many variations to why companies SHOULD NOT br allowed to be able to do this with vehicles.