My check engine light came on last week, so I called up Michael’s Toyota Dealership and Service Center in Bellevue, WA.\u00a0 I made an appointment\u00a0and had my husband bring the car into the shop and take a shuttle to work.\u00a0 Later in the afternoon, the car is finished and I start walking over to the dealership to pick up my car.\u00a0\u00a0With\u00a0my mind on a hundred other things, I\u00a0had left my purse at home!\u00a0 With no time to go back home before the dealership would close, I decided just to try to get the car and hope it\u00a0wasn’t going to cost me anything and that I wouldn’t need any ID to pick it up.\u00a0\u00a0I told the Service Center\u00a0attendant I\u00a0was\u00a0there\u00a0for my car and what my last name was.\u00a0 She typed it into the computer, found the service number, and called for the car to be brought up to the front.\u00a0 Everything was covered under warranty, so I climbed into my car and went on my merry way.\u00a0 So why do I tell you all this?\u00a0 Because it seems to me that I could have picked up any old car with just a last name. <\/p>\n
How to steal a car<\/strong><\/p>\n First of all, the car was purchased at Michael’s Toyota by my husband, Dan.\u00a0 Only his name is on the title and in the database at Michael’s.\u00a0 I obviously am a female and Dan is a male name, but that did not spark any concern in the attendant.\u00a0 I was not even the one who dropped off the car, so they certainly could not have recognized me.\u00a0 I showed no ID, no other information other than my last name.\u00a0 Now think about this… sure this was convenient for me, but it kinda makes you worry.\u00a0 It seems awfully easy to come in with some one’s last name and pick up a car that does not belong to you.\u00a0 Now you have the keys, no damage to the car, and a newly washed car to do whatever you feel like.<\/p>\n It wouldn’t be too hard to figure out the last name of someone who had dropped off their car to be fixed.\u00a0 An adversary\u00a0could eavesdrop in the morning when a customer drops off their car.\u00a0 They could just try some common last names, though that might get them into trouble if they are wrong.\u00a0 Social engineering could also be used.\u00a0 An adversary could ride in the van with other customers and strike up a friendly conversation.\u00a0 Then, they could introduce themselves (of course with a fake name) and get the customer’s name.\u00a0<\/p>\n Who would do this?<\/strong><\/p>\n There are a lot of adversaries that could be interested in stealing a car.\u00a0 Organized crime, individuals in need of a car, young adults looking for some fun, and others are all potential adversaries.\u00a0 A stolen car could then be sold or just used by the thief.\u00a0 Even though stolen cars would be hard to sell because there is no title with it and the serial number inside the car would come up as stolen if someone looked into it, stolen cars can be smuggled out of the country and sold overseas.<\/p>\n Shouldn’t Michael’s have a more stringent security policy?<\/strong><\/p>\n At first glance it seems like this could be\u00a0a big problem, but really there are many defenses involved.\u00a0 Not much defense in the way of prevention, but the threat of consequences is enough to deter most adversaries.\u00a0 The theft of a vehicle is easily detected.\u00a0 When the rightful owner comes to pick up their vehicle and it has already been picked up, the car can be reported as stolen.\u00a0 Once a car is reported as stolen, the police will be watching the roads to see the license plate.\u00a0 You could change the plates, but it would be hard to get legal ones because the DMV checks the serial number on your car when you register it.\u00a0 Even if you could forge one, if you ever got pulled over, the cops would check your license plate against their database and find that it is fraudulent.\u00a0 In the United States, 1.3 million cars are stolen each year.\u00a0 Two-thirds of these are recovered (http:\/\/www.juststolen.net\/vehicle_fraud\/<\/a>).<\/p>\n Another deterrent is video surveillance.\u00a0 When a customer finds that their car has been picked up by someone else, Michael\u2019s could go back through video records to see who picked it up.\u00a0 This is assuming that the service center keeps good records of when customers picked up their car and who helped them.\u00a0 Otherwise it would be hard to know where in the video, the car was picked up. \u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n A conviction of grand theft auto comes with heavy penalties.\u00a0 In some states, it carries up to 20 years in prison for a first offense (http:\/\/leg1.state.va.us\/cgi-bin\/legp504.exe?000+cod+18.2-95<\/a>).\u00a0 As you can see, there are many measures in place to deter people from stealing cars.\u00a0 I don\u2019t think Michael\u2019s needs to change its policies because there are so many detection and response methods to help deter adversaries and laws and governmental agencies to help recover cars if they are stolen.\u00a0<\/font><\/p>\n Side Note: The Seattle\/Bellevue\/Tacoma metropolitan area ranked sixth in the nation for the\u00a0highest rate of\u00a0car thefts.\u00a0 33,494 cars were stolen in 2005 which equates to a rate of 1,057.60 stolen cars for every 100,000 people (http:\/\/www.auto-theft.info\/Statistics.htm<\/a>).<\/font><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" My check engine light came on last week, so I called up Michael’s Toyota Dealership and Service Center in Bellevue, WA.\u00a0 I made an appointment\u00a0and had my husband bring the car into the shop and take a shuttle to work.\u00a0 … Continue reading