Quick, say something about how the first million cars a year are sold to replace thefts.

[theweaselking]

"We stole our own car, and we bought gas stealing from our own credit card,"

Researchers said they have found a way to crack the code used in millions of car keys, a development they said could allow thieves to bypass the security systems on newer car models.

The research team at Johns Hopkins University said Saturday it discovered that the "immobilizer" security system developed by Texas Instruments could be cracked using a "relatively inexpensive electronic device" that acquires information hidden in the microchips that make the system work.

The radio-frequency security system being used in more than 150 million new Fords, Toyotas and Nissans involves a transponder chip embedded in the key and a reader inside the car. If the reader does not recognize the transponder, the car will not start, even if the key inserted in the ignition is the correct one.

It's similar to the new gasoline purchase system in which a reader inside the gas pump is able to recognize a small key-chain tag when the tag is waved in front of it. The transaction is then charged to the tag owner's credit card.

Researchers said they were able to crack that code, too.

Comments

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

Well, so far i think it said it would take about 15 minutes to crack. While it's not foolproof, 15 minutes is a lot of time for a car theif. Unless you're stacking out a place, looking for a specific car, i don't think it will go to common use, until it get down to less than one minute...

[corruptedjasper.livejournal.com]

Given that they're talking about distributing faraday cages to fit over the keys when not in use, I'd guess the method involves sitting within comms range of the key with your hardware for a while trying things out to see what it will respond to. Imagine this scene: a diner, one booth filled with a guy with a laptop and some secret hardware in his coat, and just the other side of the partition, the owner of the Ferrari in front, eating his dinner. The man with the laptop hears it beep a little, smiles, pays up, and leaves to jimmy open the door and ignition locks of the car before riding off with it into the sunset.

If it's practical for anything, I'd say it'd be for these steal-on-demand type crimes, not the regular joe schmoe carjacker. OTOH it might be easier simply to break into the house and grab the key at night.

[ryusen.livejournal.com]

That's basically what i mean. If the guy wants to steal YOUR car, he can do it... i mean there's nto mcuh you can do to prevent it if he wants it bad enough...

Of course, us poor schucks who don't have high demand, resellable cars, should have to worry about this as much.