Quote:
Originally Posted by Nico2014
hi everyone,
I just read an article on daily mail confirming recent thefts in North London, where thieves seem to know how to exploit a weakness with keyless entry... There is a video also showing how the 2 thieves work together, one is using a flat antenna waving towards the front house door, which leads me to think he was trying to activate the car to star its engine with car key inside the house. Quite frightening and shocking how easy this appears to steal a great brand car. Some viewers suggest that the car key is key inside a microwave or wrapped in a kitchen foil to prevent key to activate the car... I do not know if BMW are aware of this security weakness, but they must address it in my view quite quickly...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...MW-MINUTE.html |
Well, our keys have two modes of operation:
ACTIVE: The battery in the key serves to encode the raw RFID signal. Extra security can be encoded in the data stream. Plus, the key, in active mode responds to pings from the car to ensure it is in vicinity of the car. It's not too strong so that the cars transceivers can determine where the key is, outside the car and not in the car or in the trunk.
Passive mode: This mode passes the raw rfid signal from the remote to the vehicle without battery. This is similar to rfid. Since no battery power is used, proximity is important and you hold the key close to the area on the steering column.
The active and passive methods can generate completely different codes using differing methodologies.
Now, since the video shows the door opening that tells me they are using th active code to amplify and transmit.
This means you might be able to protect yourself by taking the battery out of your FOBS at night.
The passive mode is not used for unlocking the car; hence, the reason for the metal key inside your fob.