Article on Cheap Motoircycle Alarm Teardown

[robmack]

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Came upon this blog article entitled "Why You Don't Want to Buy a Cheap Motorcycle Alarm".

It is a nerdy electronics reverse engineering article, the point of which is that cheap motrocycle alarms are designed so badly that they enhance a theive's ability to disable the alarm rather than protect the vehicle from being stolen. These cheap alarms have very bad build quality and the design uses a non-rolling remote code that is vulnerable to a simple replay attack. Furthermore, the design draws too much standby power and drains a motorcycle battery in less than a fortnight. It's an interesting read all the same.

 

[GentlemanRacer]

I thought the purpose of an alarm was just to meet the theft insurance requirements. What, he thought it might actually deter thieves?

Given the number of bikes stolen to the number of people caught for it, I'd guess it's about 1 thief per 500 stolen bikes is caught, or %0.2. If the bikes go for a reasonable price, that means only one guy goes down for about $2-3m in black market job activity.

Given the option, I would rather just put a reward out for the guys kneecaps than to collect the insurance.

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