Laptops Enabling Thieves To Steal Cars, Security Experts Warn

STUDIO CITY (CBSLA.com) — It used to be, if thieves wanted to steal your car, they needed a crowbar or Slim Jim. But now, all some need is a laptop.

Police and car insurers tell the Wall Street Journal thieves are using laptops to hack into the electronic ignitions of late-model vehicles.

In fact, in one instance, a man in Houston armed with a laptop is seen in a YouTube clip getting into someone's 2010 Jeep Wrangler.

Police believe the suspect managed to disable the alarm's flashing lights and enable the ignition with his computer. He is then seen starting the car and driving away.

An auto-theft officer investigating the case said he believes the thief was tapping into the car's computer and marrying it with a key he may have already had, allowing him to start the car.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau says they're seeing more reports of this type of car theft and believe this is becoming the new way of stealing cars.

And security experts say hackers are connecting to a car's Dataport because vehicles are beginning to have built-in 4G connections and many have their own operating systems.