Posted by dorayme on 12/20/07 21:40

In article <5sviorF1bho5pU1@mid.individual.net>,
Harlan Messinger <hmessinger.removethis@comcast.net> wrote:

> dorayme wrote:
> > In article
> > <8c49b6c0-0f41-4fc3-9784-ad8f7938f7e7@d21g2000prf.googlegroups.co
> > m>,
> > Andy Dingley <dingbat@codesmiths.com> wrote:
> >
> >> I don't object to "extreme", so much as it's use to qualify
> >> "obfuscation".
> >>
> >> You appear to be using obfuscation to imply "camouflage" (potentially
> >> discoverable, with effort)
> >
> > Anyway... without wanting to get involved between this business
> > with Harlan and you, it did make me wonder how to categorize a
> > kill-switch I am fond of wiring up for friend's cars.
> >
> > I like the idea of not hiding a switch because the damn thing can
> > be found if the thief suspects it is somewhere. I prefer to put
> > it right under his nose where there is nothing like a simple
> > verification procedure for finding it:
> >
> > Ah! A toggling thingmajig, click, click!
> >
> > No. Best for it not to physically be this at all.
> >
> > Next there is another layer of ? obfus... what was the word?
> > Anyway, I have a scheme to discourage the thief even suspecting a
> > kill switch. Or at least to encourage a different theory in his
> > evil head, namely that the car is just hard to start or flooded
> > or out of petrol. I can reveal that I do this by ensuring the
> > starter motor is *not* disabled.
> >
> > Naturally I can say no more. But I need a name for the general
> > scheme. Perhaps I might patent it. (btw. anyone interested in
> > investing, please send $US10 without asking anything in return -
> > to show good faith.)
>
> Another approach would be to have fake kill switches that look like real
> ones all over the car--thousands of them--in addition to the real one.
> *That* would provide real obfuscatory cover.

A lot of trouble and expense though <g> Plus it would alert the
thief to the avenue of attack. He could sample and get lucky
with just thousands?

In a way, my scheme is a variation on yours except that almost
anything in the cabin could be a switch. It is just that fiddling
with most things does nothing whereas fiddling with one
particular thing in a very very particular way will do the trick.

(btw I did consider a number of switches and wiring them to have
only one combination that worked, but, of course, this is a just
a variation on keypad locks... <g>)

--
dorayme

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