We know that Americans are concerned about their cars being hacked. We also know that some consumers believe criminals are “hacking” into their parked cars and committing “snatch and grab” crimes using devices that simulate newfangled keyless entry systems.
Now we know the FBI is worried about car hacking, too. The agency, along with the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, issued a bold warning to consumers and manufacturers last week.
“The FBI and NHTSA are warning the general public and manufacturers – of vehicles, vehicle components, and aftermarket devices – to maintain awareness of potential issues and cybersecurity threats related to connected vehicle technologies in modern vehicles,” the warning says. “While not all hacking incidents may result in a risk to safety — such as an attacker taking control of a vehicle — it is important that consumers take appropriate steps to minimize risk.”
The FBI warning didn’t raise any new concerns; it mainly cites revelations of car hacking from 2015 as impetus for the warning. Still, the notice clearly demonstrates there is a level of activity around car hacking that should have everyone concerned. Drive down the highway sometime (as a passenger) and use your smartphone to look at all the cars sending out Bluetooth connections around you, and you’ll get an idea about how connected our vehicles have become.
Mysterious break-ins
Meanwhile, consumers continue to report mysterious car break-ins around the country with no signs of forced entry, in situations when they swear their car doors were locked. In Baltimore, a string of crimes following this pattern frustrated local residents earlier this year.
“What was strange to me was that, while I could tell it was broken into because my jacket was taken and they tossed through the stuff in the car, there were no signs of a breaking. No broken windows or anything,” said one driver. “I called and reported it mostly because I wanted to know how anyone could have gotten in if it was locked and no windows were broken. The officer said people have these things that basically interfere with newer cars electronic/fob locking systems and disable the alarms.”
The reports follow a persistent set of national stories around “key fob” break-ins that began with a CNN report two years ago, and was followed by a New York Times story last year that casually suggested drivers store their car fobs in their freezers to keep them safe from hackers. (Notably, the story appeared in the Times’ Style section. The science was a little shallow.)
More from Bob Sullivan, tech skeptic and consumer advocate
There have also been vague warnings issued by some agencies around the world, like this notice from the London Police, or this notice from the National Insurance Crime Bureau:
“The keyless entry feature on newer cars is a popular advancement that lets drivers unlock their cars with the simple click of a button on a key fob using radio frequency transmission. The technology also helps prevent drivers from locking their keys in the vehicle,” it says. “Not surprisingly, thieves have found a way to partially outwit the new technology using electronic ‘scanner boxes.’ These small, handheld devices can pop some factory-made electronic locks in seconds, allowing thieves to get into the vehicle and steal personal items left inside.”
The existence of such a scanner box is very much in question, as are assertions that such a universal master key can be purchased for as little as $17; So is any notion that the crime is widespread. If any law enforcement agency has seized such a device, we are all waiting for it to be put on display.
How would such a magic device work? By tricking your car into thinking your key fob is nearby and opening the door in response to a handle jiggle; or perhaps by amplifying the signal it sends out, or by intercepting that signal and copying it somehow. Or hackers could “guess” the code for opening a car, if the code were poorly constructed. Here’s a great explanation of how it might work, and why it’s a major challenge unlikely to be used by street thugs.
Could such a hack exist? Well, of course, says embedded device security expert Philip Koopman, a professor at Carnegie Mellon. Koopman actually worked on earlier generation designs for key fobs.
“I would not at all be surprised if the Bad Guys have figured out that some manufacturer has bad security and how to attack it,” he said. “There is nothing really new here, other than general lack of people to admit that if you cut corners on security you will get burned, and an insistence by manufacturers and suppliers that known bad practices are adequate.”In a blog post six years ago, he warned about the cost sensitivity for auto manufacturers (“No way could we afford industrial strength crypto.”)
Back to today, he offered this speculation on keyless entry attacks:
“It is (possible) that the manufacturers used bad crypto that is easy to hack, possibly via just listening to transmissions and doing off-line analysis. And it is possible to attack by getting near someone when they aren’t near their car and extracting the secrets from their car keys when it is in their pocket, then using that info to build a fake key. The technology is very similar to the U.S. passport biometric chips, so all the attacks for those are plausible here as well.”
The FBI offers the following advice to consumers: Keep your car software up to date, as you do with your PC; don’t modify your car software; be careful when connecting your car to third parties; and “be aware of who has physical access to your vehicle.”
That last bit of advice might work for people with long driveways, but the rest of us can’t do much about who might be able to walk by our cars on streets and in parking lots.
“While these tips may seem innocuous, they do show the limitations that law enforcement and consumers have in combating the car hacking threat,” said Tyler Cohen Wood, cyber security adviser for Inspired eLearning.
“With the ever-increasing implementation of Internet of Things devices, including devices installed in newer cars, it’s a real challenge for law enforcement to identify different threat vectors associated with vehicle hacking. There is no real standard for Internet of Things devices from a vehicle standpoint — each automobile manufacturer offers different types of devices as options in vehicles, from entertainment and navigation systems to remote ignition starting devices. There is no industry standard for operating systems or security protocols on these devices, so it’s difficult for law enforcement to identify the specific threats that the devices pose to the public.”
So what else should you do? Putting your car “keys” in the freezer is probably a bad idea; it will likely create more problems than it solves. You might damage the very expensive key, for example, to mitigate a threat that is still perceived as low. But it wouldn’t hurt to take great care with where you leave the key. If you park directly in front of your front door, perhaps you shouldn’t leave the key right there. Otherwise, read the local police blotter and talk to neighbors about street crime.
Most of all, make sure you really do lock your car doors.
More from Bob Sullivan:
Add a Comment
Our Policy: We welcome relevant and respectful comments in order to foster healthy and informative discussions. All other comments may be removed. Comments with links are automatically held for moderation.