Live data from Hacker News

Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

cbc.ca

271–280 of 449 posts

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#271

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This eliminates all of the convenience of keyless entry/start.

Isn't "keyless entry" basically same concept as "not locking a door"? You can trivially implement it on every vehicle without using any electronics at all.

Uh, no? When you touch a door handle when the car is locked, the car will try to detect a keyfob near the door and then unlock itself when the keyfob is detected. The car won't unlock if a keyfob is not detected.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#272

I wonder how difficult it is to add some clock syncing and time-of-flight measurements to ensure a certain distance. If the speed of light is to fast, maybe using sound could work.

Apple claims that they use time-of-flight for their "Unlock with Apple Watch" feature on macOS, so it seems like something that a car maker/supplier could pull off, especially if they're willing to throw dedicated hardware at the problem. That said, the fob is much more battery-constrained than a watch that you charge on a daily basis.

This is such an obvious solution that maybe some patents are the reason it's not implemented by every car manufacturer.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#273
post #94
post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

So if you accidentally drop your keys while entering, or your passenger departs with your key, the car should lock itself 2 minutes later while you are driving?

Yeah, sounds reasonable to me. Either of those situations should already be solved. My car at least yells if the key goes away when the car is on and if you’re dumb enough to keep driving and that’s kinda on you.

I got myself in a bad situation where I set my key fob on the top of my car after a run, changed, jumped into the car, and got onto the highway before realizing my mistake. The fob fell onto the road and was run over and destroyed before I could get to it. Thankfully I left my car running during this time and was still able to get home.

The way it works is reasonable. Maybe tighten up the proximity. But honestly, I miss my classic keys.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#274

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This eliminates all of the convenience of keyless entry/start.

And what problem does keyless entry/start aim to solve?

It is a convenience feature -- you don't have to fish your keys out of your pocket/handbag and press a button to unlock your car doors or to start the car. So long as you have the key somewhere on you (bag/handbag/pocket), you can unlock and start the car.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#275
post #147

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What vehicle do you have?

BMW late 2000s were like this. Maybe still are.

I have a 2007 BMW. It does have a slot to insert the fob. But it is not required to start or run the car. The slot acts as a charger and holder for the fob. But proximity is all that is actually needed.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#276

Earlier quoted context omitted.

How does she unlock her front door?

I imagine a lot of people don't use a key to get in their house, nor do they use the front door. Hit the button on the garage door remote, drive in, walk into house.

[deleted]

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#277
post #214
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The latest insurance "incentive" is a tracking device in your car that tracks when and where you drive, how fast, how hard you corner and stop, etc. I've declined this but expect that insurers will push for it to become mandatory. They would love to be able to charge unsafe drivers more money, and in the abstract I don't have a problem with that, but the tracking is creepy.

Or to put a combative point on it: "How much money do I get when you abuse this data for any purpose other than your exclusive safety metrics?"

This is an idea that I do not see getting enough attention. “Big Data” has a lot of possible benefits but only if companies collect limited and relevant data. I’m comfortable telling my insurance company where and how I drive as long as they cannot share that or combine it with any other data.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#278
post #98

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The latest insurance "incentive" is a tracking device in your car that tracks when and where you drive, how fast, how hard you corner and stop, etc. I've declined this but expect that insurers will push for it to become mandatory. They would love to be able to charge unsafe drivers more money, and in the abstract I don't have a problem with that, but the tracking is creepy.

I think in California it's illegal for insurance to put in a black box that measures anything other than total # of miles driven.

Does the mileage number have to be accurate in terms of wheel rotations? Can a hard braking event add miles? Is miles just an abstract representation of risk?

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#279

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> A simple button on the fob (rather than in the car) that you must press to open the doors and to start the engine would mitigate the attack. Yes, reverting from passive-supported to active-only remote entry/start would eliminate the attack by eliminating the feature on which it is based. OTOH, the handsfree nature of passive remote entry is a major selling point.

As long as they’re not susceptible to replay attacks. If they are, just do a stakeout and then replay it later in the day to gain access.

Mount the receiver to a drone and park it on the roof of a garage you want. Even hop around the neighborhood and capture - a whole new level of war-driving.

Fly the drone into gated estates, or better yet a country club drive-up near the valet and record many high-value signals.

Re: Thieves boosting signal from key fobs inside homes to steal vehicles

#280
post #207

I work at very large OEM. We've run the numbers, and key fob exploits are _extremely_ rare. (most) Modern keys use rolling keys that are verified by the ECU, making cloning (let alone initial pairing) extremely time consuming. However, Keyless-go key fobs _can_ be captured and replayed (not necessarily exploited). 99.99% of the time that cars are stolen (which we find much more common in Europe due to small jurisdict…

Why clone? Why replay? You just need signal boosters so the key and the car think they are next to each other.

Following around someone with a 'signal booster' could be very difficult. If you capture and reply, you afford yourself a lot of advantages.
Post reply on HN