Volkswagen hid a car hacking flaw for two years - KRGV
It's all about the high-tech keys used in today's cars. But now, there are computer chips inside the key and car ignition switch. A car only starts if the chips are near each other and send just the right code. But there's a flaw in the way the chips guard their communication, according to researchers. The chips use outdated encryption. Then it's easy to make a copy of the key and the chip. "It's a bit like if your password was 'password,'" said one of the researchers, Flavio D. Garcia of the University of Birmingham in the United Kingdom. A hacker could become a valet driver and steal a fleet of cars, or steal a rental long after returning it. This flaw was discovered by Garcia, as well as Baris Ege and Roel Verdult of the Radboud University Nijmegen in the Netherlands. The researchers were astonished to find that even luxury cars used outdated encryption. "You would expect that expensive cars used the better alternative," Verdult told CNNMoney on Friday. The list of affected cars included several models made by Audi, Fiat, Honda, Kia, Volkswagen, Volvo and many others. Source: www.krgv.com
