Despite planned improvements, a 2019 study by a UK consumer group found that more than 200 keyless car models were at risk of being stolen.

It will also be convenient to get Tesla’s keyless entry system up and running, but the risk of hacking is just around the corner. So said Sultan Qasim Khan, senior security consultant at security firm NCC Group in Manchester, UK. By redirecting communications between the smartphone and the car remote, a hacker can trick the access system into convincing it that the owner is near the vehicle. Once connected, it is very easy for the thief to get away with it. A particularly common risk in the Tesla Model 3 and Y. According to Khan, the BLE protocol was designed to connect devices to the Internet. A convenience that, however, leaves the door open to hackers, who use the technology to unlock smart locks on homes, cars, phones and laptops, Khan said.

Kwikset Corp.’s Kevo smart locks, based on keyless systems, may also experience the same issue. To stop this, the company said that customers who use an iPhone to access unlocking can enable two-factor authentication in the app. A spokesperson also added that iPhone-operated locks have a timer that expires in 30 seconds. This makes it easy to protect against intrusions. “The security of Kwikset products is of the utmost importance and we partner with well-known security companies to evaluate our products and continue to work with them to ensure the best possible security for our consumers,” a trader said in a speech via Bloomberg. . Updates for the Android version of the Kwikset app will also arrive this summer, the company said.

A representative of the Bluetooth SIG, the collective of companies that manages this type of technology, said: “The Bluetooth Special Interest Group (SIG) prioritizes security and the specification includes a set of features that give product developers the tools to necessary to secure communications between Bluetooth devices.”Despite planned improvements, a 2019 study by a UK consumer group found that more than 200 keyless car models were at risk of being stolen due to methods attack similar to the one described at the beginning.

As a demonstration for Bloomberg, Khan himself simulated a hacker attack to see how real the danger of theft is. Two devices, one attached to his laptop and the other near the Tesla owner’s smartphone, were needed to transmit the communications. Devices that are easily found online at affordable prices ranging from $50 to $100. “An attacker could approach any home at night, if the owner’s phone is in the home, with a Bluetooth passive driveway car parked outside, and use it to unlock and start the car,” Khan said. “Once the device is placed near the remote or phone, the attacker can send commands from anywhere in the world,” he added.