Hyundai Faces New Theft Threat from "Game Boy" Hack

16 pointsposted 11 hours ago
by based2
(headlight.news)

23 Comments

strangecasts

11 hours ago

My first thought was that "Game Boy" was a very generous description of a Flipper Zero, but the linked device [1] is indeed much more similar to the Anbernic-style emulator handhelds, which makes me wonder whether plausible deniability [2] was the main goal of the design, or just a convenient bonus on top of having shells and designs readily available.

[1] https://www.thedrive.com/tech/34817/this-25000-game-boy-is-m...

[2] The aerial is kind of a giveaway, admittedly.

Fnoord

10 hours ago

It is a very expensive HackRF (for which neat cases and UI exist for ages) with goal to be sold to car theft criminals under the guise of a red team tool. Red team tools are often overpriced (just check Hak5) but I am not aware of red teaming car theft. The Russian language moreover is the cherry on top.

jauntywundrkind

4 hours ago

It'd be awesome if these handhelds had some kind of ExpressCard like standard they could implement, if they could have some modularity.

Kinda sad Google's Ara with UniPort didn't work out at all; no phones, no embedded embedded, no peripherals, all Google concept basically, afaik?

Maybe the Framework laptop card standard can emerge. USB3 and 4 would be fine! Just so long as there aren't a jumble of wires and dongles hanging off.

hi-v-rocknroll

2 hours ago

This is like a replay of the security level disparity between American cars and German cars in the 80's and 90's. I'm wondering if nonzero Kia and Hyundai owners may resort to The Club proactively, or if it's an issue the vast majority don't think about only in retrospect after it's too late.

foldor

10 hours ago

It's interesting, because when I bought my electric vehicle recently, the insurance agent told me my rates would actually lower because they found that electric vehicles were almost never stolen. Up here in Canada at least, the vast majority of car thefts happened to trucks and luxury cars and end up in shipping containers to Africa or the Middle East. The value of electric cars there was minimal because they don't have the charging infrastructure to support it, so the electric vehicles just aren't as valuable for theft.

laweijfmvo

11 hours ago

I've heard about iPhone theft being worthless because of the locks that make them bricks after stealing... how in the world do thieves handle something like a modern (connected) EV? You can't just sell it. Maybe you can part it out? but even maintenance of EVs seems pretty locked down these days...

wood_spirit

11 hours ago

There is a lot of media coverage explaining how iPhone tracking shows how stolen iPhones go to faraway countries that don’t block the imsi or china where they are stripped for parts.

Etheryte

10 hours ago

While this is true, it considerably reduces the value and hence incentive to steal them. I have no idea what the numbers are, but between the aggregation, shipping, stripping, etc, I would expect that you can only recover a small fraction of what you could get for a full phone otherwise.

Fnoord

10 hours ago

You'd be surprised at how good the small hands in Shenzhen are at recovering all the tedious chips while being paid pennies.

Generally, if we could do what Shenzhen could do in the West, we could. But we cannot compete, as they have various advantages (physical, economical).

Etheryte

9 hours ago

I'm not sure if I would count a lack of human rights, de facto labor slavery, etc as an advantage. Grinding people's lives into dust can give them an economic advantage, but it's not the kind of world we want to live in.

Fnoord

8 hours ago

We agree on that, I was not trying to market communism as better. The point is that countries such as China get away with this behavior. For human rights and happiness it is a disadvantage, for the powers that be in China, an advantage.

Etheryte

6 hours ago

Yeah that's true, agreed.

laweijfmvo

4 hours ago

how does that circumvent the need for the former password to restore the phone?

hypeatei

11 hours ago

Thieves sometimes steal vehicles to scout and carry out other crimes or car thefts.

e40

11 hours ago

Short term use. Joy rides and getaway vehicles.

nothercastle

8 hours ago

Not for 25k a tool. This is a professional outfit only type of device.

e40

3 hours ago

Not for the joy rides, I agree. For the getaway vehicles? Could be, right? Theft rings bring in a lot of money.

sharpshadow

11 hours ago

Steering wheel security inspired by the sword from the movie Blade would be fun.

But really seems like one needs to deploy additional security measures in- and outside the car to avoid theft. What are the options?

MrVandemar

10 hours ago

You know what: I own a Hyundai and I want a low-tech version of this.

My key fob got damaged. Hyundai quoted me $600 for a new key. That's half my wages for a fortnight. For a key. Used to be you could go and get a new key cut for $10.

So yeah, if there's a way to break into my own Hyundai for way less than $600, I want one.

user

11 hours ago

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