Modern car security?

GunnyGene

Hawkeye
Joined
Nov 23, 2013
Messages
14,378
City & State/Province
Monroe County, MS
No such thing. These computers on wheels are the new playground for hackers & car thieves. Check this out:

Your remote car key isn’t a key. It's billions of them.

It doesn’t have just one secret code to your car. That’d be too easy for someone to electronically intercept, copy and use.

Instead, your car key uses what’s known as “rolling code.” Every time you press the button, a new, randomly generated code is sent over a radio frequency to your car, which has a synchronized code generator that recognizes it and then burns it so it can never be used again. The key and the car then create new codes for the next time around, and the process repeats.

In case the two ends get out of sync -- say your kid grabs the keys when they’re out of range and presses the button a bunch of times -- the car can recognize a few hundred future codes. When it receives one of them, it disables all the prior ones.

It’s a proven system that’s secured tens of millions of cars and remote garage door openers for years. And now it may be useless.

White-hat hacker Samy Kamkar, who last week cracked GM’s OnStar smartphone app security and demonstrated his ability to illicitly unlock and start a car over a cellular network, has developed a device made from $20 worth of parts that he calls the RollJam, which does exactly what its name implies.

Kamkar tells FoxNews.com that when someone tries to use a remote key, the device copies the code and jams the signal so the car doesn’t receive it. When the user clicks his remote again, the device sends through the original code as it captures the new one, giving the attacker a valid code to use as he pleases.

http://www.foxnews.com/leisure/2015/08/06/haker-rolljam-device-can-steal-your-car-keys-open-your-garage/
 
Some months ago we went to the local Costco and the lot was full..we parked back away from the "crowd" in our old beater Suburban...there was a kid that obviously was "out of place" leaning up against a car with a cell phone and another device in his hand....we watched as a woman with her kids in the car pulled into the lot near us in a newer Lexus SUV...she unloaded the kids and as she walked away she "clicked" her lock unit on the key ring...immediately the kid that had been standing around stared at the other "device" he was holding and he began to talk to someone on the cell phone...when done he moved down a bit closer to the SUV and again leaned up against a car nearby and again just sort of loitered..I told the Wife to go to the door, get security and explain what we had seen and what we suspected...

Security and the Sheriff department showed up in a flash..they confronted the kid and very quickly he was in handcuffs and in the patrol car...turns out they had been having a rash of folks having high end cars either broken into and things stolen or in having the car itself stolen..They are everywhere

That's the reason I drive a 200K mile 8mpg beater Suburban with "nothing electronic" on it that works...
 
OPOS, thank you for being observant! A few days ago a car passed us down town. We noticed the rear license plate had come loose a one side and it was hanging sideways by one loose screw. ANOTHER license plate was behind it. Then for whatever reason the guy made a U turn on the busy main street (no intersection). We couldn't get the number but took the car description to the highway patrol office just a couple blocks away. It interested them. I cant think of a legal reason someone would have one plate over the other but can think of a few illegal reasons they would.
 
Mine has a security alarm, but I am old school and have a steel bar that locks to the steering wheel to prevent steering the car. Certainly not fool proof, but it should discourage most thieves that are looking for a fast, quick, and easy target. I have had the bar for about 20 years or more.

It is somewhat a pain to lock it and unlock it each time, but not nearly as much hassle as having a vehicle stolen.
 
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Once knew a guy who owned a Harley. He locked the forks, ran up to his apartment for just a short while, came out and his ride was gone. He asked some kid in the area had he seen anything and the kid said yes, some guy was pushing it with a skate board under the front tire.
 
Pat-inCO said:
EASY fix. Change it to a DNA sample to gain access. :roll:

Anything that requires a few lines of code to verify whether it's a radio signal or a DNA/fingerprint sample, can be bypassed. Just tell the software, "yes this is the right DNA", whether it is or not, even if no DNA sample has been submitted. No different is theory than doing the same thing with the existing radio code. Why try to go thru the front door, when the back door is wide open? :)
 
GunnyGene said:
Anything that requires a few lines of code to verify whether it's a radio signal or a DNA/fingerprint sample, can be bypassed. Just tell the software, "yes this is the right DNA", whether it is or not, even if no DNA sample has been submitted. No different is theory than doing the same thing with the existing radio code. Why try to go thru the front door, when the back door is wide open? :)
Based on that . . . . we should all just give up. :roll:
 
What if you simply locked your doors without using the remote fob? I usually hit the power lock button getting out of the vehicle not the remote.
 
Pat-inCO said:
GunnyGene said:
Anything that requires a few lines of code to verify whether it's a radio signal or a DNA/fingerprint sample, can be bypassed. Just tell the software, "yes this is the right DNA", whether it is or not, even if no DNA sample has been submitted. No different is theory than doing the same thing with the existing radio code. Why try to go thru the front door, when the back door is wide open? :)
Based on that . . . . we should all just give up. :roll:

Didn't say that. But we and the manufacturers, etc. should should not sacrifice security for convenience, which is exactly what we and they have been doing for years. I know there is no such thing as perfect security, but the risks can be reduced. :)
 
This type of hacking really gives me confidence in the future of the electronically "safe" handgun. No one, of course, would ever seek to block the authenticating signal from the fob or wrist device that activates the firing mechanism of such a gun. I'd like to see someone try to "hack" into the LC9s in my pocket.
 
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