In our recent blog, we delved into the disturbing number of car thefts happening per day in North America, especially in Canada. Auto theft is a crisis that’s affecting Canadians across the country, and is being felt most acutely in Ontario. Alberta ranks second, and B.C. ranks third in automobile theft – and this crime is happening every 5 minutes. So the moment you finish reading this article, there might have been another car that’s stolen in our area.
In Ottawa, the escalation in auto theft has prompted policymakers and observers to declare it a national crisis, especially with the advancements in technology that making stealing cars more tantalizing than ever. The federal government says an estimated 90,000 cars are stolen annually in Canada, resulting in about $1 billion in costs to Canadian insurance policyholders and taxpayers.
Now, as part of a larger effort to combat auto theft, Francois-Philippe Champagne, the federal minister of Innovation, Science, and Industry, recently stated his plan to prohibit the importation, and sale of consumer hacking devices, like Flipper Zeros. The Flipper Zero is a pocket-sized gadget that can study and interact with wireless signals – it is possibly the most well-known flipper on social media, with a flurry of TikTok videos claiming it can be used to steal vehicles. However, the Flipper Zero team and technical community at large have said that the device can’t be used to hijack any car, specifically the ones produced after the 1990s, since their security systems have rolling codes, an unlocking system much too advanced for these basic hacking devices.
So, what other ways can we prevent car theft? In this article, we will share five ways, particularly by installing a dash camera system in your car.
