Can the 996 be stolen?

Of course no including the tow-truck/flat bed method, is it possible to get the 996 stolen? I know Porsches statisticially has a low probability of theft but I'm wondering if the coded keys are enough to mechanically prevent a thief from breaking into the car and stealing it. On my previous cars, I've usually had the factory alarm and a steering wheel lock along with a brake lock. When I had a Supra TT a few years back, I had the alarm, steering wheel lock, brake lock, and a transmission lock lol. Just wondering if I should at least be putting a brake lock on it still...TIA.

My wifes '06 Lexus RX400h was stolen out of our locked garage while we were awake watching TV upstairs in the bedroom. House is very well insulated and neither one of us could hear both of the garage doors being opened. The thief walked into the house, found the key on a rack in the kitchen and drove off undetected. I couldn't believe it when I went into the garage the next morning and found both doors wide open and her car gone. Her Boxster had the passenger door open and the contents of her console and door opener missing. Luckily my Carrera was in the shop or it may have gone missing as well as the key is usually kept on the same rack in the kitchen. We now take extra precautions like turning off the power in the garage every night, locking the door to the house from the garage and setting the alarm in the house every night. We also lock the cars in the garage and keep the keys out of sight.

Gee, s14roller...where do you live!? Can't believe you have to do all that to your car! You might as well put padlocks on the doors too! ( kidding!)

Always throw a lock through the rails of your garage door when taking a time out from play

If the price is right.

LOL...I grew up in Brooklyn...although it was a good area, it was just something I grew up learning I should do. I currently reside in a good surburban area in NJ. However, if it's one thing I ever picked up in NYC, if an order for a car can't be fullfilled in the area, they'll go to NJ to find the ones in "nice" areas where the people might have a false sense of security and leave their cars unlocked on the driveway... I've owned a Supra TT and a 03 G35 coupe both of which did not use coded keys so I assumed they could be hot-wired or whatever they do now. Even in NJ, I'd keep at least a brake lock on them (I figured the steering wheel lock might look too much out of place). So do I still need to do this with the Porsche? Or are the keys similiar to the MB keys in Gone in 60 Seconds

Not sure if this has crossed over to the Porsche market yet, but the crooks have a nice box that reads the RFID tags in BMW keys, and allows them to open and drive away said cars within about 20 mins. Basically they need to be close to the driver at some point as he leaves his vehicle, so that the RFID tag in the key can be scanned as he walks past. This coded info is then used to crack the remote lock/alarm on the car, which is what can take the 20 mins or so. They car is then unlocked, and with the RFID they have captured, they can convince the car that the owners key is present. Happened twice to soccer star David Beckham: I've heard of it happeneing in LA as well, cars are driven away with no sign of forced entry, and with the owner still having all of their keys. Said black box/software is supposed to be $10,000 to get you started on your lifelong dream of owning a stolen bimmer! Here's a breakdown from FORBES AUTO on how the RFID technology was cracked. So if you're relying on this system to keep your Porsche safe, you're probably kidding yourself! Chris.

Anything can be had...

But in theory, doens't that just apply to keyless entry? I don't know anything about X5s but do they need chipped keys to start also? Without the computer chip in the porsche key, wouldn't they not be able to start the car or hot-wire it? I mean, if they want to break in to steal something, my brake-lock isn't going to do much. I just want to see if it would prevent the car from being taken or if the chips in the keys are enough.

The chip in the key is RFID.

if there is such a box for porsches it could only pick up the radio signal from the remote. the vechile cant even see the immbobilzer pill without the key in the ign. The radio and the pill are programed seperately and are 2 diffrent codes. Anything can be stolen. .....all it takes is a tow truck. Stealing a p -car with a armed imobilizer is about impossible by hotwiring tow truck or other creative means maybe but not by hotwiring

You mis-understand.... The crooks are scanning the RFID chip in the key - not the transmission from the key to the remote locking system when you lock the door. It's the passive RFID chip in the key that tells the car that the owner key is present, and disables the imobilizer. So once they have that - they can start the car quite easily. That's why it's such a problem - if you read the linked Forbes article, it explains how the industry believed it was fool-proof, but that is far from the case. Scaning the active RF signal from the central locking remote is old-hat these days - these crooks are way past that!! Chris.

Here's the scientific detail - along with videos of cars being started using the Laptop based RFID simulation software RFID ANALYSIS They also use the same technology to fake the RFID tag used to buy gas using the Speedpass system. As you can see - the security is basically useless if you have the necessary software to crack the RFID code, and can get close enough to the original passive RFID chip in the key to 'read' it. This is the system that is now in use by our criminal community here in the US! The problem in the use of basic encryption by the RFID and car manufacturers. It's a 40 bit encryption, similar to the 40 bit wireless networking encryption that came with the early wi-fi cards/access points. 40 bit encryption is easier to crack, as their are fewer combinations than on a strong encryption system, such as the now common 128 bit systems. You see for example that wi-fi connections now tend use 128 bit encryption, as 40 bit is no longer considered secure. It seems that car security is lagging behind in this technology, leaving a window of opportunity for hi-tech crooks. Chris.

Of course no including the tow-truck/flat bed method, is it possible to get the 996 stolen? I know Porsches statisticially has a low probability of theft but I'm wondering if the coded keys are enough to mechanically prevent a thief from breaking into the car and stealing it. It's always been a cat and mouse game between auto companies and professional thieves. The manufacturer introduces a new anti-thieft device, and the thief figures out a way to get around it. There's always been one certainity: if a professional has an order for a specific car, and your car fits the description, say bye bye to your car.

Commercial/Consumer Encryption is a joke. 128 bit can be broken by a normal computer with the right hardware/software in less than 20 minutes. And as people have said, anything can be stolen. Any protection bypassed. The best way to prevent that is to be safe, keep cars locked even in the garage, keys out of sight, make the thief feel insecure.

Sounds like the brake lock will go on at the very least...

if a pro wants your car it is his. The best thing you can do is make sure your insruance is paid and up to date.

The best way to prevent that is to be safe, keep cars locked even in the garage, keys out of sight, make the thief feel insecure One of my coworkers lives in a very exclusive gatted community of $1.5+M homes. Her home is also supposedly protected by a very expensive security system and she had her MB S550 parked in a locked garage in that community. About a month ago, her S550 was stolen from her locked garage, while she was asleep. The police who investigated the thieft made the brilliant deduction that it must have been stolen by some pros.

I think the real issue with Porsche is resale of the stolen car (or parts). The cars seem not quite exotic enough to warrant exporting and no market for stolen ones in the US. And as for parts, outside of the Litronic headlights and airbags, most owners of damaged Porsches want a reputable body shop and new OEM parts. Between the two, there seems to be minimal demand for stolen Porsches and hence minimal thefts.