Those sneaky dealers

Discussion in 'General Motoring' started by Irwell, Mar 21, 2010.

  1. Irwell

    Irwell Guest

    And dangerous too!

    http://www.wired.com/threatlevel/2010/03/hacker-bricks-cars/

    The dealership used a system called Webtech Plus as an alternative to
    repossessing vehicles that haven¢t been paid for. Operated by
    Cleveland-based Pay Technologies, the system lets car dealers install a
    small black box under vehicle dashboards that responds to commands issued
    through a central website, and relayed over a wireless pager network. The
    dealer can disable a car¢s ignition system, or trigger the horn to begin
    honking, as a reminder that a payment is due. The system will not stop a
    running vehicle.

    Texas Auto Center began fielding complaints from baffled customers the last
    week in February, many of whom wound up missing work, calling tow trucks or
    disconnecting their batteries to stop the honking. The troubles stopped
    five days later, when Texas Auto Center reset the Webtech Plus passwords
    for all its employee accounts, says Garcia. Then police obtained access
    logs from Pay Technologies, and traced the saboteur¢s IP address to
    Ramos-Lopez¢s AT&T internet service, according to a police affidavit filed
    in the case.
     
    Irwell, Mar 21, 2010
    #1
Ask a Question

Want to reply to this thread or ask your own question?

You'll need to choose a username for the site, which only take a couple of moments (here). After that, you can post your question and our members will help you out.