Tuesday 1st February 2005

Researchers say car tags insecure

Car tag encryption cracked by crypto experts

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Think you car's secure because it's got all the latest widgetry to protect it? Think again.

According to IT news site The Register, researchers have discovered cryptographic vulnerabilities in the systems used to protect tags used in car immobilisers. The technology in question, known as RFID, is used in some 150 million car keys for newer vehicles from at least three leading manufacturers.

What this means is that tea-leaves who know what they're about could crack the key tag's code without your knowledge; you don't have to be using it at the time. This could allow crooks to circumvent electronic vehicle immobilisation systems.

The researchers have told the tags' maker, Texas Instruments, about the problem, and recommend that you put a metallic shield over your key tag while not in use.

www.theregister.co.uk/2005/01/31/rfid_crypto_alert/

[Road_Terrorist]

Its only a matter of time before any common security systems are broken. You can only make it difficult to steal, not impossible.

[Rawwr]

Road_Terrorist said:

Its only a matter of time before any common security systems are broken. You can only make it difficult to steal, not impossible.

Quite. By definition, anything that can be encoded, encrypted or enciphered can be decoded, decrypted or deciphered.

Failing that, of course, they could just key it and take a dump on your windscreen.