News

Keyless entry: convenient, but at what cost?

  • Interdisciplinary Centre for Security, Reliability and Trust (SnT)
    17 septembre 2018
  • Catégorie
    Recherche

When it comes to convenience and comfort, car manufacturers take the design of automobile features very seriously. But it’s precisely these well-meant elements, such as drive by wire tech, hands-free Bluetooth connectivity, and keyless entry, that have proved vulnerable.

Keyless entry in particular has provided a rich hunting ground for clever thieves. SnT researcher Dr. Florian Adamsky and his colleagues are working to stop these thieves by designing a more secure system between the owner’s key and the car.

In modern vehicles featuring passive keyless entry and start, a transmitter in the car sends a signal, which the owner’s key fob receives and returns as they approach the car. Once the car checks and confirms the signal, the doors open and push-button start is enabled.

Car thieves, however, have found a way to exploit a vulnerability in the keyless entry system; with one person near the vehicle and an accomplice near the victim, the thieves can amplify the signals between key and car, unlocking the vehicle at distance without anyone knowing.

“The basis of the attack is simple, and can be conducted using off-the-shelf products”, says Adamsky. “So we’re researching how to make it impossible for this kind of attack to ever happen.”

Adamsky and his team have proposed a novel solution to the problem by improving the car’s internal systems used to validate the key signature. Rather than simply recognizing the key and opening the door, the new system will also take into account the time it takes for the signal to be received. If the transmission takes longer than predetermined, the car will not open nor start.

(L-R: Sasan Jafarnejad, Dr. Florian Adamsky and Dr. Ridha Soua)

Adamsky’s proposed method relies on the fact that it takes time for information to travel: a signal sent 20 meters away from the car takes longer to travel than a signal sent from the owner’s key only one meter away. To achieve this, Adamsky and his team need to develop software capable of detecting very fast time intervals.

“A few millionths of a second is a difference between lock and unlock,” says Adamsky. “So we’re working to create a system that’s rapid, but also reliable.”

Adamsky and his colleagues have partnered with Honda to explore a new security system around existing technologies. They are also investigating ways to integrate additional security features by creating a “fingerprint” of how and when the key interacts with the car, this can be used as an extra security feature by identifying normal usage, and blocking access when it is being attacked.