Car theft made easy
The German automobile club ADAC tested 500 cars with keyless systems over several years. Conclusion: Only five percent of the cars checked were protected against an attack with a range extender.
Cars with keyless locking systems could be far more secure. This is shown by current tests of the German automobile club ADAC. According to the experts, the components for cracking such keyless car systems could even be purchased for a few 100 francs in electronics stores.
According to the security experts at the ADAC, car thieves only need to be near the car key with one small device - and near the car door with a second device. This "extends" the range of the signals by hundreds of meters - and the car can be conveniently opened and started.
Damage often not detectable later
As the tests on 500 cars with keyless systems by now would have shown, almost all vehicles could be opened and driven away without any problems. Only five percent of the cars checked were protected against the range extender attack and thus safe from this type of theft.
According to ADAC experts, once the engine is running, the car can be driven as long as there is fuel in the tank. If you refuel while the engine is running, car thieves can claim the vehicle even over very long distances. However, victims of such thefts are usually punished a second time: if the car is then found by the police, it is usually difficult to record the damage or the suspicion of theft, as there are usually no signs of break-in or theft on a hijacked vehicle.
Well protected by digital radio technology
Cars with keyless locking system can be equipped with digital radio technology easily be made more secure. This technique uses computer chips with Ultra Wide Band (UWB) technology in the locking system, with the help of which the distance of the key to the car can be determined very precisely from the runtime of the radio signals. When using a radio extension as is the case with this form of car theft, the car no longer reacts.
Since 2019, more and more car models from Audi (A3), Seat (Leon), Škoda (Octavia) and Volkswagen (Golf 8, ID.3, ID.4, Caddy) also protected with UWB. This shows that a keyless system with state-of-the-art security is also possible in vehicles in the price-sensitive Golf class. The first models are now also available from BMW, Genesis and Mercedes, which offer the same protection with ultra-wide band.
Source: www.adac.de
