Expensive cars the easiest to steal?
Posted by massnerder on May 8, 2006
Check out this story over at c|net. According to the story, high-end cars with keyless ignition fobs are getting stolen left and right in Europe. It makes you think this RFID stuff (the technology used in keyless entry and keyless ignition fobs) is still half-baked. Or maybe the makers of keyless ignition systems are completely baked. How does it make sense to still be on 40-bit encryption?
How a keyless car gets stolen isn't exactly a state secret–much of the required knowledge is Basic Encryption 101. The authors of the Johns Hopkins/RSA study needed only to capture two challenge-and-response pairs from their intended target before cracking the encryption.
Brilliant. Apparently, they're not planning on going to more powerful encryption any time soon. My favorite part of the story:
The authors also suggest that car owners wrap their keyless ignition fobs in tin foil when not in use to prevent active scanning attacks, and that automobile manufacturers place a protective cylinder around the ignition slot.
I love it: tin-foil hats for your key fobs. Classic.
Mike said
We could totally go into business making key fob protectors. Wrap a thin sheet of aluminium with some cutsie fabric that the fob slides into. I love the way the British say alu-MINI-um.
-Mike
massnerder said
I was thinking more of a case you could snap your fob into that was lined with a radio-blocking material. When you needed to use the fob, you could slide it from the sheath like a pocket knife.
While we’re on British pronunciations, I always liked “schedule.” I first heard the British pronunciation from watching Star Trek: The Next Generation. I sometimes catch myself using that pronunciation.
Tony
Brendan said
Or maybe pants with pockets lined with aluminum foil.
I like that it’s called a fob. Very British to begin with.