Gone in 60 seconds?

A rather troubling security failure affecting BMWs, among other manufacturers, has been featured on the BBC’s Watchdog television program in the UK.

Simply, car thieves in the UK have been sourcing blank key fobs then breaking into cars, accessing the OBD-II ports, reprogramming the blank keys with a third party OBD-II reader and driving away with no impediment from the car’s onboard security systems.

Reports from a few months back suggest as many as 300 BMWs in the UK have been stolen using this method. Indeed, you can see a video after the break showing a BMW 1M being stolen after thieves carefully broke the car’s window, avoiding the alarm’s movement sensor, and quietly pushing the car away, before driving off, around three minutes after gaining access.

BMW’s response to the BBC hasn’t really inspired much confidence:

“There is no specific BMW security issue here. We, like our customers and those of other manufacturers, are victims of this new high-tech organised crime.

“All our cars meet all security standards and regulations, but as responsible manufacturers we are looking at ways of mitigating against this new kind of attack.”

Virtually all models of BMW can be stolen this way, however BMW UK points out that recent upgrades should put an end to the security weakness:

“None of our latest models—new 3 Series, 5 Series, 6 Series and 7 Series—nor any other BMW built after September 2011 can be stolen using the method highlighted.”

We’re not sure if any Australian delivered cars have been stolen using this technique, but we’d certainly recommend contacting your dealer to see if your car is vulnerable to such thefts.

[Source: BBC]