Below you will find an article published by Telematics News on January 17th, 2011. In the article Mr Capkun found that the Smart Key systems were able to be hacked. Mr Capkun bought a vehicle with a Smart Key and wondered about the vulnerability of his vehicle being stolen so he decided to try himself as he is an assistant professor of computer science in the system security group at ETH Zurich in Switzerland. So this man knows what he is talking about.
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Car thieves of the future might be able to get into a car and drive away without forced entry and without needing a physical key, according to new research that will be presented at the Network and Distributed System Security Symposium next month in San Diego, California.
The researchers successfully attacked eight car manufacturers’ passive keyless entry and start systems—wireless key fobs that open a car’s doors and start the engine by proximity alone.
Srdjan Capkun, an assistant professor of computer science in the system security group at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, who led the work, says he was inspired to investigate the security of keyless entry and start systems after buying a car that had one.
Capkun andAurélien Francillon and Boris Danev, both researchers in the same institution, examined 10 car models from the eight manufacturers.
They were able to access all 10 and drive them away by intercepting and relaying signals from the cars to their wireless keys.
While they could relay the signals from the key back to the car as well, usually they did not need to because the key transmits its signals up to around 100 meters. The attack works no matter what cryptography and protocols the key and car use to communicate with each other.
Normally, when a wireless key is within a few meters of the right car, it detects a low-powered signal that causes it to issue a command that opens the car enable the ignition.
The researchers used a pair of antennas to transmit these signals from the car to the key when the key was farther away, tricking the car into opening without the ordinary authorization. One antenna needs to be very close to the car, and one needs to be within eight meters of the key.
Read more here.
