A Toronto cybersecurity expert is warning residents about car thieves who steal vehicles through headlights amid a surge in vehicle thefts across the country.
According to the Insurance Bureau of Canada, more than 105,000 vehicles were stolen across Canada in 2022. This is equivalent to one vehicle being stolen every five minutes.
The tactic which many thieves are currently using is known as the CAN injection attack. It’s a simple move that takes over the interconnected computer network within vehicles, to ultimately get control of the vehicle’s ignition system.
In an interview with Now Toronto, Cybersecurity Expert and Associate Dean at Humber College Francis Syms describes exactly how thieves execute this tactic.
“…The attackers are getting access to the car, through the front headlight, probably on the left side, could be the right side. I think the idea is something like this. When they drill a hole in the headlight, or they break the headlight, what they can do is they can plug into the car’s electrical system,” he says.
“The car’s electrical system is kind of like your home network…and so the way it works is when the attackers connect to the network through the headlight, they’re what’s called authenticated, they’ve effectively become a trusted connection. And so once they’re connected to the network, they can do all kinds of things, they can turn the car on, they can turn the alarm off and on, they can unlock the doors,” he continued.
Syms says with this tactic, a thief would not need a key or an immobilizer to break into the car. The expert says this is a popular tactic as cars are becoming progressively digital and essentially having a centralized network. As a result, thieves are left to find technical solutions for getting into one’s car.
“All of these more high tech gadgets and attributes of cars need more complicated ways to communicate and control…So, I think that’s part of the reason why we’re going to see this continue. Basically, cars are now computers and that’s part of the problem and our computers get hacked, and the cars can get hacked as well,” he said.
One of the reasons why car thieves are highly using this strategy is because of how easy it is. Syms emphasizes that most thieves will try this tactic first because it is one of the easiest and vulnerable ways to access a vehicle.
“What we’ve seen is that people can drill a hole through the headlight, or break the headlight…and within about probably a minute, they’re able to open the car doors and get into the car,” he revealed.
TACTICS TO BE AWARE OF
In addition to the CAN injection attack, Syms outlined other classic ploys that car owners should be aware of. The first is when thieves try to reproduce a key fob after stealing them from someone’s home.
The second way thieves can gain access is by purchasing a tool that can emulate what a fob key can do. He says the tool is similar to cracking a safe because it will try every possible code to find one that unlocks the particular car model chosen.
“That’s just more of the brute force type of attack where the problem with that is they may sit there for a half hour before they can break into the car until they find the right code. But that’s another strategy that they use, in addition to the more traditional one where they break into the car and forcibly try to turn the car on,” he explained.
TIPS TO PREVENT YOUR CAR FROM BEING STOLEN
To help protect your car from being stolen, here are three preventative measures you can take to add a layer of safety.
“Use an RFID bag for your key, which is the shielded bag, and you can probably buy it for $5 to $10 on Amazon. And then when you put your key in that bag, they can’t communicate with anything outside the bag. So, that’s a good safety strategy to use,” Sym suggests.
Additionally, he suggests buying a steering wheel or brake lock to make it increasingly difficult for thieves to drive it away.
Furthermore, he says there are a lot of aftermarket accessories available for car owners to make their vehicles anti-theft proof, however, before adding them to your car, he encourages you to check with your car dealer or manufacturer to ensure that it’s allowed.
“The problem is when you install some of these anti theft devices, it voids the warranty on your car, and it makes it difficult for you to potentially get service…Those are three of the things that people tend to use, the steering wheel brake lock, the faraday bag to protect their fob and the wheel lock,” he said.
WHAT NEEDS TO BE DONE TO ADDRESS CAR THEFTS
Last week, the federal government announced it is combating auto theft by investing $28 million towards the investigations and examinations of stolen vehicles.
This is on top of the government’s existing investment of $121 million to tackle gun and gang violence in Ontario, which includes organized crime and auto theft through the Initiative to take Action Against Gun and Gang Violence (ITAAGGV).
However, Syms says the government should be targeting manufacturers to reduce car thefts.
“I think what the government needs to do is introduce some regulation around manufacturers. Ultimately, the reason that these cars are being stolen is that they’re effectively easy to hack and turn on and drive away. The manufacturer needs to do something better to make sure that it’s more difficult for somebody to turn on the car without the key, or that there’s a better way to authenticate the person that’s actually in the car,” Syms said.
