The FBI Is Locating Cars By Spying On Their WiFi This appears to be the first case on record of this happening.
For this warrant, the FBI first used a pen register, which gets data from a cellphone provider to monitor connections made by a device to other phones or electronic devices.
The FBI then used a "ping warrant," which shows the locations of cell towers used by a device.
The FBI further used a third method called Stingray which masquerades as a cell tower in order to force all devices in a given area to connect into it.
Agents then picked the number they were interested in to locate the device.
Normally that would be a mobile phone, but a search warrant application discovered by Forbes shows this third method can also be used to find vehicles, as long as they have onboard Wi-Fi.
That's because car Wi-Fi systems act like a phone, in that they reach out to mobile networks to get their data.
The FBI decided to use the cell-site simulator noting that cars like the Dodge were "frequently equipped with cellular modems inside their vehicles. These cellular modems are assigned a unique cellular identifier and generate historical and prospective records similar to a traditional cellular phone."
The case highlights how cars are no longer just vehicles, but networks on wheels, and all that data can be useful to government agencies.
Police can and have acquired location data from a car's airbag system or brake light module. They've also previously requested location data from companies that have in-car systems that track millions of vehicles' GPS coordinates every day, including GM OnStar, and fleet management providers Geotab and Spireon.
The FBI Is Locating Cars By Spying On Their WiFi