Many dealers offer optional alarms as an add-on when you buy a vehicle from them. One company called Karr sells such systems and is a leader in this space, with its tech installed in approximately 2 million vehicles across the U.S.
However, not every owner may be aware that their vehicle has a Karr alarm to begin with, and that’s because some dealers actually install and leave them there, whether buyers choose to pay for their capabilities or not.
View Price on AmazonFortunately, this is one of those cases where security experts have already notified Karr, and Karr has pushed out an update to patch the oversight. This can be installed via a companion smartphone app that anyone can download, whether they’re a paying subscriber or not.
The only problem with that calm tone is that researchers, frankly, don’t agree with it. One UCSD professor called this “probably the worst” car hacking threat to date. These experts also demonstrated to Wired how easy it is to mess with a Karr-equipped vehicle that doesn’t have the new update installed yet, so long as the hacker has the right software.
Karr-alarmed vehicles aren’t just liable to these threats while they’re running; the system’s Bluetooth radio stays on for 10 minutes after a car’s been turned off, which widens the window for potential trouble.
Source: thedrive.com
