Keyless car theft

[Philip Fisher]

There is an article in the Telegraph today which is someone talking about having their keyless Disco Sport stolen.

There is a rather alarming statistic that 1 percent of cars on the road are keyless entry, but they represent 48 percent of all thefts......

But the bit that really interests me I have cut and pasted below:-


"Don’t imagine you’re safe just because you store your keys in a tin box, or away from the front door

That might thwart “relay theft”, where thieves boost the signal from your key fob to the car; but they have other ways of cloning the keys. My own keys were nowhere near the front door, and Giles Coren’s keys were in a Faraday pouch – but somehow those cars went walkabout."


So the bit that interests me is, how? I thought it was all about relay theft. What are these other methods and how can I protect myself?

Thoughts?

[EssexExile]

Keyless entry is more trouble than its worth, in my humble opinion.

[Cull06]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

There is an article in the Telegraph today which is someone talking about having their keyless Disco Sport stolen.

There is a rather alarming statistic that 1 percent of cars on the road are keyless entry, but they represent 48 percent of all thefts......

But the bit that really interests me I have cut and pasted below:-


"Don’t imagine you’re safe just because you store your keys in a tin box, or away from the front door

That might thwart “relay theft”, where thieves boost the signal from your key fob to the car; but they have other ways of cloning the keys. My own keys were nowhere near the front door, and Giles Coren’s keys were in a Faraday pouch – but somehow those cars went walkabout."


So the bit that interests me is, how? I thought it was all about relay theft. What are these other methods and how can I protect myself?

Thoughts?

The residual signal given off will carry a good distance. Way further than your house, unless you live in a palace. Not enough to open the car door, but enough for the relay receiver to read it and amplify it to enough signal strength to open the door.

My works car park got done over a few times by keyless. And staff to car park was a good 100m.

Faraday pouches stop doing their job abfter about 6 months of constant use. I don’t know the science of that but I know it first hand because on my last car an RS I would regularly check the pouches were working and indeed they would ‘expire’ after 6 months. I found a faraday box would last infinitely longer.

If they want my current car they can have it. I’m thinking a z4 m40i next 😂

[isleaiw]

Its insured, its a lump of metal and I will cope if it got nicked. I'm not going to stop having what I want because of some scum who might nick it.

I have a faraday pouch and a tin box at home, we have three nice cars and unless you live here you'd struggle to work out which car belongs to which house..

And it just looks like a photocopier salesmans estate....

[MK09]

If someone wants your car enough they’ll have it but multiple layers of security seems the only answer. I have the newer motion sensor key fobs but still use a faraday pouch for the main key and the spares, and also have a disklok.

If someone wants to force the lock on that, saw it off or smash down my front door to get the keys then they can have the car, but hopefully there are softer targets in the neighbourhood than mine.

Car thieves round here tend to go for BMWs and Land Rovers etc ahead of Volvos, so that was another consideration when choosing the XC90.

[nu11eaf]

Originally Posted by Philip Fisher

There is an article in the Telegraph today which is someone talking about having their keyless Disco Sport stolen.

There is a rather alarming statistic that 1 percent of cars on the road are keyless entry, but they represent 48 percent of all thefts......

But the bit that really interests me I have cut and pasted below:-


"Don’t imagine you’re safe just because you store your keys in a tin box, or away from the front door

That might thwart “relay theft”, where thieves boost the signal from your key fob to the car; but they have other ways of cloning the keys. My own keys were nowhere near the front door, and Giles Coren’s keys were in a Faraday pouch – but somehow those cars went walkabout."


So the bit that interests me is, how? I thought it was all about relay theft. What are these other methods and how can I protect myself?

Thoughts?

It is easy for unscrupulous garage/workshop people to add a key to a car while they have it in their possession and hand it back with the original key and steal the car later with the newly added key, Land Rover was an easy target, new Land Rovers have a locked key module that has to be replaced and locked after adding a key and only the main dealers can do this.
Watch this video from 7:30 mins,
https://youtu.be/J954NQo6Qmg

[XCR]

Due to the ad-hoc parking on my sons old street, his car was rarely parked outside his house, often 20 yards away.
One night his Fiat 500 Abarth was taken - seemingly with no evidence of having been broken in to.
Three days prior though he'd had his windscreen replaced by the 'company you first think of' who had the car key in their possession for around an hour....
Police ?
Disinterested....

Keep hold of your keys....

[MG14]

I read the Telegraph article as well and it didn’t seem to make sense. The author wrote about keyless entry and how easy it is to overcome by amplifying the signal. The replies above all relate to that and are all valid.

However, he suggests that keyless start is also an issue, ie, you have to press a button to open the car but can the start it with your key in your pocket. I haven’t heard that this is a problem before and there must be much more than 1% of cars so equipped.

Is he conflating issues and, ultimately, talking out of his backside?

[RS3100]

Originally Posted by MG14

I read the Telegraph article as well and it didn’t seem to make sense. The author wrote about keyless entry and how easy it is to overcome by amplifying the signal. The replies above all relate to that and are all valid.

However, he suggests that keyless start is also an issue, ie, you have to press a button to open the car but can the start it with your key in your pocket. I haven’t heard that this is a problem before and there must be much more than 1% of cars so equipped.

Is he conflating issues and, ultimately, talking out of his backside?

Not exactly. Keyless entry is an issue, and can be susceptible to relay attacks.

Another issue is immobiliser bypass or override through the diagnostic (OBD) port. There are unscrupulous companies whose sole business model is to reverse engineer modern vehicles looking for ways to bypass key security and sell tools do to just that. They are mainly based in Eastern Europe and the Far East, but sell globally through the internet and other outlets.

One common tool is a small box smaller than a Volvo DiCE unit, but with no cable, and an OBD connector moulded into one end. Plug it into the OBD port, press a button, and after 10-20 seconds an LED on the box illuminates and the vehicle can be started. They've been commonly used for Ford thefts, particularly Transits, for several years, and similar devices work on the Fiat 500 plus many other vehicles. Each unit is specific to certain vehicle make or specific model, so the thieves that are using them typically buy one and concentrate on thefts of those particular vehicles. They aren't cheap, but nor are relay kits, and if you're in the business of stealing new or nearly new cars and cloning or breaking them for profit, they pay for themselves very quickly! This is just one example:

https://www.keyprogtools.com/key-pro...tart-2in1-2019

Where keyless start comes into this is that the steering lock on such vehicles is normally electronic and controlled by the immobiliser system detecting the key, in the same way that engine starting is prohibited. So a device that has been engineered to bypass the immobiliser and fool the vehicle into believing that an authorised key is present will also disable the steering lock in one fell swoop. With a mechanical steering lock, that is a separate system that also has to be circumvented before the vehicle can be driven away, even if the immobiliser security has been compromised.

The answer to many of those electronic bypass devices is to fit a good quality OBD port lock such as those made by Trade Vehicle Locks, as one example.

But key security is also important. Reasonably cheap key cloning equipment can also be obtained fairly easily from similar or the same suppliers. Have you ever handed your key over to a car wash or valet whilst you pop off to do some shopping? Of course the majority of those operations are fairly legitimate, but if they are operating key cloning devices and have your key for a couple of minutes, and you have documents etc. in the car with your address on. Maybe days or weeks later when you're unlikely to make the connection, your car disappears from your drive...

Having said that, Volvos are generally at the more secure end of the market where key compromise is concerned. I have a Ducato van on which I have several aftermarket security devices installed, including an OBD port lock. My Volvo is not keyless entry, and although it has a start button, the key has to be placed in the slot so it's not really keyless start either, and I'm perfectly happy with the original security provided by Volvo

[Chudy85]

Seven things no one tells you before your keyless car is stolen

Have a read