Slashdot Mirror
Latest Samy Kamkar Hack Unlocks Most Cars
msm1267 writes: Samy Kamkar has built a new device called Rolljam that is about the size of a wallet and can intercept the codes used to unlock most cars and many garage doors. The device can be hidden underneath a vehicle and when the owner approaches and hits the unlock button on her key or remote, the device grabs the unique code sent by the remote and stores it for later use. The device takes advantage of an issue with the way that vehicles that use rolling codes for unlocking produce and receive those codes. Kamkar said that the device works on most vehicles and garage doors that use rolling, rather than fixed codes.
The real question is, what are the odds that a car thief is going to spend the money (likely more than $30 if they're buying from someone who knows how to make one) or the time to learn how to make one of these? The barrier to entry just to get one of these working (having to have technical knowledge to put one together, having to hide it under the car and get the owner to open it first and potentially notice the device when it jams their unlock signal) means that thieves will stick to the tried-and-true $5 wrench method rather than try one of these.
A thief will just smash a window or pop a lock. A detective, OTOH, will find this quite appealing, if they need to do a "sneak and peek". Want to search someone's car and leave no sign that you did?
Socialism: a lie told by totalitarians and believed by fools.
The best theft is one where the victim doesn't know that they were stolen from.
The second best theft is one where the victim doesn't know when they were stolen from.
The ability to quickly gain access to a locked place without leaving any sign that one gained access would be incredibly useful, especially in environments where valuables are routinely left in cars. Laptops and technical service tools would be big targets in-general, and some people in certain occupations would also be excellent targets for the privileged information that might be in a briefcase in an otherwise-securely-locked trunk.
Then there's the issue of people that leave things in their cars, like copies of their housekeys, that could let a thief in to somewhere else that's more lucrative, or those that leave extra vehicle keys in vehicles so that once a locksmith would let them back-in to the car after they lose their primary keys, they could drive away.
I can see this being an incredibly big problem depending on proliferation. It should at least require people to stop keeping expensive things in trunks that might have been somewhat safe through being hidden.
Do not look into laser with remaining eye.
The real question is, what are the odds that a car thief is going to spend the money (likely more than $30 if they're buying from someone who knows how to make one) or the time to learn how to make one of these? The barrier to entry just to get one of these working (having to have technical knowledge to put one together, having to hide it under the car and get the owner to open it first and potentially notice the device when it jams their unlock signal) means that thieves will stick to the tried-and-true $5 wrench method rather than try one of these.
Considering most cars are stolen to be parted out, if it only costs $30 to get $5000 odd of parts, even the dumbest crims will figure the economics of that one out.
This is a bigger problem in Europe where the car can simply be driven over the border and resold. It may cost 600 Euro to put a new lock and immobiliser system in, but you can sell it for thousands of euro in a variety of places in eastern Europe (not to mention the illegal car export industries that exist in these places).
If you honestly dont believe that this technology will find its way into the mainstream criminals hands, just look at the number of card skimmers out there.
Calling someone a "hater" only means you can not rationally rebut their argument.
The don't get that technical here in South Africa. They just broadcast ANY other signal as you walk away from your car and hit the lock button on your remote. It interferes with your lock signal and the car remains unlocked. If you are not paying attention you don't notice that your car fails to lock and they are in. And no, they are not trying to steal the car, they just steal whatever you left behind in the car, most of them don't even bother trying to steal the radio. Unemployment is high, they steal what they can. It's gotten so bad they kick down your front door, alarms blazing, steal whatever they can grab and make a runner in the 5 minutes it takes armed response to get there (and yes, that's happened to me).
There are three kinds of falsehood: the first is a 'fib,' the second is a downright lie, and the third is statistics.