WFAA-TV

Johns Hopkins University students used computers to hack into auto security systems.

Dallas police work daily to combat auto theft, but there’s one breed of auto thief they are not yet equipped to handle: high-tech thieves stealing cars with computers.

It's an alarming trend in Europe that has many car manufacturers here in the U.S. on edge. Criminals are using computer programs to break into and steal vehicle, including high-end models from Lamborghini, Bentley, Hummer, Mercedes and BMW.

"As we become more and more digital, and more and more electronic, this is going to continue to be a problem for consumers," said Bill Allen, who works on radio frequency identification systems for Texas Instruments.

The most high profile theft of this kind came earlier this year when soccer star David Beckham's $100,000 armored BMW disappeared from a Madrid hotel. No windows were broken and the steering column was intact.

The thieves used notebook computers and a software program to break a code that let them open the car and drive it away.

"I was really shocked when I heard it, to be honest with you," said John Witt of BMW of Dallas."I thought we had our security measures covered."

That's where Texas Instruments comes in. The Dallas-based company makes the radio frequency ID chips installed in more 150 million vehicles last year, including some high-end vehicles.

Allen said TI works tirelessly to make it more difficult for thieves to beat their security devices. "It's a very complex transaction; it's a very hard thing to do," he said.

Earlier this year, TI funded a research project by a group of computer science grad students at Johns Hopkins University. The students wanted to know how these thieves were using technology to break into cars.

The students first tried a copied key without the correct ID chip. Then they tried the same key with encryption software they created.

They cracked the codes of several vehicles, and the experiment raised eyebrows at Texas Instruments.

Bill Allen said that's why the company is now increasing the sophistication of its chips and lengthening the encrypted codes. The hope is to prevent these high tech thefts from becoming widespread.

"It's staying one or two steps ahead of thieves as far as the advancement of our technology," Allen said.

E-mail bgreene@wfaa.com