Those remote key fobs nearly all automakers offer -- turns out they're fairly easy to hack so the bad guys can unlock your car and high-tail it before you even finish your shopping.
Your only advantage: If your car has a remote that still requires a key, the bad guys can't start it easily, even though they can open the doors and trunk and get inside.
Cars that have keyless entry and the push-button ignition switches becoming more common are in the most jeopardy. The thieves can, in fact, start those vehicles because the same purloined signal that opens the doors also tells the push-button system it's OK to start the car when somebody pushes the button.
The setup for hacking is easy, but not simple. It requires a couple of special antenna and a certain proximity to the victim, the Swiss researchers found.
The research company, ETH Zürich, hacked into eight automakers' remote-entry systems. No coding system could stop it, the researchers said.
Cars that have keyless entry and the push-button ignition switches becoming more common are in the most jeopardy. The thieves can, in fact, start those vehicles because the same purloined signal that opens the doors also tells the push-button system it's OK to start the car when somebody pushes the button.
The setup for hacking is easy, but not simple. It requires a couple of special antenna and a certain proximity to the victim, the Swiss researchers found.
The research company, ETH Zürich, hacked into eight automakers' remote-entry systems. No coding system could stop it, the researchers said.
