Car thieves are hacking keyless entry systems to break in.

[Spyro 8,438]

Sauce: https://autos.yahoo.com/blogs/motoramic/it-s-official--car-thieves-can-hack-your-keyless-entry--insurers-warn-142252463.html

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

For the past two years, reports have trickled in from around the country of car thieves appearing to break into vehicles using a mystery device that mimicked the vehicle's key fobs. Last year in Long Beach, Calif., police even caught them on camera, as shown above. Yet such events provoked more questions than answers; police knew nothing about the devices, and neither did carmakers.

 

Today, the problem took a step out of the shadows, with a warning from the insurance industry that such break-ins are becoming more common  even as experts still puzzle over how it's possible.

The National Insurance Crime Bureau, a not-for-profit fraud prevention unit paid for by insurance companies, said Wednesday that it had seen a spike in thefts of property from cars due to scanner boxes that can unlock vehicles with keyless entry systems.

 

“Our law enforcement partners tell us they are seeing this type of criminal activity and have recovered some of the illegal devices,†said NICB President and CEO Joe Wehrle in a statement.

The NICB didn't detail how many such cases it had counted, but reports have surfaced in California, Illinois and elsewhere of the technology being used.

 

How could such thefts happen? Security researchers have detailed several holes and hacks for the transmission system between a key fob and a vehicle used by carmakers around the world; in theory, the fob and car are supposed to broadcast a unique encripted code every time the fob's used to lock and unlock the car. Over the past several years, security researchers have demonstrated several hacks aimed at disrupting that transmission and tricking the car into opening its doors.

 

But to date, all of the publicized hacks have either involved complicated surveillance  essentially stealing a code from the key fob then later replaying it to the car  or equipment that's not portable. As reported by Wired, an Australian hacker will demonstrate a car key-hacking exploit later this week using about $1,000 in equipment he built in his living room which he says works on multiple types of vehicles, but is still far removed from the handheld devices on the streets.

 

At the moment, the savvy burglers have not advanced beyond petty theft of goods inside a vehicle; the security built into keyless fobs for starting a vehicle has not been shown to be vulnerable to hacking to date. Brute-force thefts are still the most common, and a few theft rings have been busted using keys programmed with codes stolen from dealerships. (Given that the NICB says a third of car break-ins involve vehicles left unlocked by their owners, simply remembering to lock your car would seem to be a good first step.)

 

But computer security experts have long raised alarms about the increasing reliance of vehices on computer code  from navigation systems to self-driving features and steer or brake-by-wire controls  and what hackers could do if they had physical access to a car's ports. In the neverending battle between cops and robbers, the black hats have a small but worrying advantage.

 

 

 

 

If you want to prevent things like this, use your key to lock/unlock your car.  If you can't deal with the inconvenience with that, I hope you can cope with a stolen car..

[Logan 20,866]

I love the older cars that have the numbers you have to punch in to unlock the car. 

[Dodo 313]

the focking future, soon we're going to have to hide our cars when coming home. 

 

"driveways" will be the past. 

[Benji 20,113]

If you want to prevent things like this, use your key to lock/unlock your car.  If you can't deal with the inconvenience with that, I hope you can cope with a stolen car..

 

Don't cars unlock both ways whether you lock it manually or with the key fob?

[Spyro 8,438]

I love the older cars that have the numbers you have to punch in to unlock the car. 

 

They still have some cars that still do that.  I think Ford still makes it.

[Logan 20,866]

They still have some cars that still do that.  I think Ford still makes it.

 

Really? That's cool. 

[Chromatica 7,042]

Nnnnnn some thieves did this to my mothers car the day before Christmas Eve.

Everything she bought, gone :giveup:

[Ray of Light 8,134]

Thank god I'm poor