Your Key-Less Car Fob Can Be Easily Hacked.

As the Holiday Season becomes a distance memory, I have been reflecting on how I want to expand topics for this blog. Gluten-Free issues will always be my passion and therefore in the forefront of this blog yet there are so many other topics I would like to touch on.  I may stray off the topic now and then. Please use the comment box below to share your opinion of this idea. 

Key-less Car Entries are becoming more and more common and so are electronic car break-ins.  My neighbor took her children to a beach park last week and while they played someone used a device to activate her key fob (the key-less device that opens the car.) The thieves, using simple devices to override the key fob (purchased on the internet for as little as $20.00) stole all her credit cards, registration etc. The police told her that there were 10 cars in a local neighborhood that were recently broken into while the owners peacefully slept.

Key Fob

According to The New York Times. "Burglars may be using a device called a "power amplifier" to break into cars with key-less doors without leaving a trace of their entry"  I found several excellent articles about the topic. Please see references below. Forbes/Entrepreneurs  has suggestions on how to prevent theft as well as opinions on what advice not to follow. 

My husband and I use a RFID wallet to protect our credit cards from being remotely hacked and I decided to do some research to see if there was something to protect the key fob. I found some crazy suggestions like putting your key fob in your  freezer or microwave, when you are home. There were some inconvenient  though effective ideas also like wrapping it in aluminum foil when not in use. Someone suggested using an empty Altoids container which seems more practical. 

Amazon has a collection of possible holders for the key fob. For example: 

Faraday Defense

 I also found Fob Guard: It appears to work just like the RFID wallets and has good reviews. According to their web page, rental car companies having been using this for awhile now to protect their cars. 

Fob Guard

TECHNICAL SPECIFICATIONS (According to their webpage)

Interior Dimensions: 3 1/4” Width x 4 1/4” Length
Construction: Double Layer Inside Single Strip Closure
Material: Double layer conductive silver/copper/nickel RoHS compliant material protected by high durability sports nylon
Attentuation: Average shielding effectiveness of -85dB in the range of 30 MHz to 1 GHz and an average -80dB in the range of 1 GHz to 11 GHz. Material has been tested by an independent lab to Mil. STD. 285.
Suitable for: Electronic Car Keys, RFID Devices, Credit Cards

I haven't personally used any of these protects, nor do I profit in any way from any of these protects. Please do your research and the best of luck out. 
References:
http://www.fobguard.com/

Bilton, Nick, Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves, The New York Times, April 15, 2015: http://www.nytimes.com/2015/04/16/style/keeping-your-car-safe-from-electronic-thieves.html?_r=3


Steinberg, Joseph, Vulnerability in Car Keyless Entry Systems Allows Anyone to Open and Steal Your Vehicle, Forbes/Entrepreneurs, May 21, 2015
http://www.forbes.com/sites/josephsteinberg/2015/05/12/vulnerability-in-car-keyless-entry-systems-allows-anyone-to-open-and-steal-your-car/#6af893334b7c

Weissman, Cale Guthrie, A cheap device you can buy on Amazon or Craigslist may be what's causing a huge uptick in car burglaries, Business Insider, Apr. 15, 2015,