DON'T DULL!!! Criminals Now Use Laptops And The Internet To Steal Cars

Nigeria has now joined other countries
experiencing advanced car jacking or
should I say hacking.
Items worth 200,000 naira was stolen
from a car parked in the premises of
one of the popular shopping malls in
Lagos. CCTV footage showed the
suspect walked up to the parked car
which was already open via remote
access and removed the items. The
car owner testified that he met the
parked car locked but the items were
missing. This is just one of the many
stories about the new trend of
stealing from cars and in some cases
stealing the car.
Just last month, Wired released an
article about two security specialists
who commandeered a Jeep
Cherokee’s onboard computers, and
took control of the air conditioner,
windshield wipers, and most
terrifying, the accelerator and brakes.
More recently, Volkswagen lost a two-
year battle to suppress files about
how hi-tech criminals are able to
hack into their vehicles electronically.
In Lagos Nigeria, a car parked at one
of the popular shopping malls was
robbed using hi tech electronics. The
culprit was not caught. These news
stories are leading motorists to ask
the question: just how safe are
modern vehicles? Carmudi, the safest
way to sell or buy your car online,
examines why Nigeria should be
concerned about car hacking.
Car hacking is a type of internet crime
where criminals can seize control of a
vehicle from their laptops, sometimes
from across the country. With rapidly
developing in-car technologies,
vehicles are increasingly vulnerable to
hacks, particularly the keyless entry
hack and the UConnect hack.
The keyless entry hack is a popular
car exploit which works by
intercepting radio signals to lock and
unlock car doors. The hacker grabs
the code and resends it to the car
alarm. Voila! Open sesame. The
criminals can proceed to take any
valuables they find inside the car. The
UConnect hack works by gaining
access to the car’s internal network
via the Wi-Fi hotspot enabling the
firmware to be completely re-written
in order to grant access to the car’s
physical controls, making the car
steer wildly, speed up or slow down
and even blow out its tires.
Car hacking is a growing problem in
developed countries, particularly in
the UK, where last year, 6000 vehicles
were stolen using the keyless entry
hack in London alone. But, is car
hacking relevant in Nigeria?
“Africa is experiencing a significant
level of internet crime and it looks set
to continue growing. With more than
49 million cyber-attacks recorded on
the continent in the first quarter of
last year, we can see the seriousness
of the issue” said Carmudi.
In 2013, Ghana was ranked second in
Africa and seventh globally for cyber
crime. The Communication Minister
remarked that Ghana’s present
ranking among the world’s top 10
cyber crime-prone countries is “a
disincentive to investment in the
country’s ICT sector.” The situation is
just as bad in Nigeria, which suffered
a $2.5 billion loss as a direct result of
internet crime.
This Article was Written by Carmudi
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