A 30$ Device that Will Hack Your Car
A clever hacker found a way open your garage door and your car using a simple concept. You need not panic, it’s not like everybody’s cars are in danger all of a sudden, but the simple concept was materialized into a $30 device that is now available on the market.
Samy Kamar is the hacker behind the entire deal. His device practically stops and records the radio signals that your devices use to open the car or the garage. The good news is that this ingenious hack might bring the era of insecure systems to an end.
So how does it work? Whenever you press a remote, it sends radio signals to an interceptor. The radio signals are a code. If part of the code is stopped, then the code that reaches the interceptor is not the code it needs to open itself right? These codes are called “rolling codes” and they are an almost universal way of opening cars and garage doors.
What is actually worse is that this little device also records your code, so that is something that you might not want it to do. While some care manufacturers have foreseen this issue and implemented systems to impede it, the majority of cars are vulnerable to this hack.
The device was designed as a means to “reveal new research” and potential attacks that might occur in the area of wireless gates, cars or anything related to automobiles and their auxiliaries. Many cars are controlled via GSM, while the majority are controlled wirelessly from different types of devices.
The main issue is that all these systems can be attacked with equipment which is low-cost, easy to manufacture, easy to obtain. Practically, anybody can get their hands on such a small hacking device and take your car out for a ride before you even realize it.
However, as mentioned before, there is no need to panic and buy a new car straight away. The truth is that now, if the hacking devices are so accessible, car manufacturers will make improvements as fast as they can. And it is going to be for the sake of the competition, too. Who doesn’t want one of the most secure cars on the market?
The only problem is that this is going to take some time until this changes come into effect. Don’t expect your garage car key to get a Windows 10 update with the latest protection. You might consider taking extra care of your garage for a while.
Photo Credits forbes.com
