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Keyless entry

By / 9 years ago / Features / No Comments

Traditional immobilisers, which use a transponder chip embedded in a conventional key, have made vehicle theft increasingly difficult, with ACPO figures showing a 76% decline in thefts over the last 10 years, the company said. Instead, most cars are now stolen using the owner’s keys, peaking at 74% of thefts in 2008, but thieves are exploiting new technology to reduce the risk of being caught.

As keyless entry systems do not require a physical key blade, they are more vulnerable to hacking.

Thieves can block the lock signal, or read and retransmit it to gain access, using cheap and easily available devices sold online. Once inside, it takes less than a minute to clone a car’s keyfob using a £150 programmer plugged into the diagnostic port, after which the car can be started and driven away.

Swiss engineering college ETH Zurich showed that wireless keyfob signals can also be relayed over long distances using a low-cost amplifier.

Although the transmitting end needs to be close to the locks or ignition, the receiver can be up to eight metres away from the fob, which could be inside a house or office.

Of the 10 cars tested, all could be opened and started when the signal was amplified through a seven-metre cable – long enough for most driveways – while six could be stolen if the car was 50 metres from the receiver.

Andy Barrs, police liaison officer for TRACKER, said: ‘Car hacking is a growing issue for motorists. Today’s sophisticated security systems mean thieves have to be smarter than ever and the latest trends show that criminal gangs have found a way to crack keyless cars.’

‘A tracking unit can significantly increase the chances of a stolen car being returned to its rightful owner, and TRACKER devices come with a motion sensor that’s triggered even if the engine isn’t started.’

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