A story coming out of London, England, may signal the continuance of a worrying trend. Elliott Ingram leased a Hyundai Ioniq 5 through a dealership. During the term of his lease, his vehicle was stolen from his driveway. Upon reviewing the CCTV footage from his security cameras, he was surprised to learn that the vehicle was taken in less than 20 seconds. The thief used a device, readily available online, to mimic the vehicle’s electronic key. Thankfully, the vehicle was recovered shortly afterwards.

Elliott claims that he was not informed of this security risk, and claims that he could have taken additional measures such as “installing a secondary immobilizer or using a steering lock” had he known about the issue. He is now threatening to take legal action unless he is compensated for his losses.

Given that the vehicle was a lease, it’s not clear that Elliott would be permitted to install a secondary immobilizer. Further, it’s not clear that this issue is limited to just Hyundai vehicles. A relay attack works on many vehicles that use a “push-to-start” system.

There have been stories of thieves using similar devices, known as “keyless repeaters”, which launch radio or “relay” attacks, to steal vehicles within Canada.

Keyless repeaters are typically equipped with four “modules” which makes these thefts possible. One module for communication with the car, another for communication with the key fob, as well as two additional modules for communication between the “repeaters”.

Keyless repeaters are able to establish a connection between the car and the key fob using two “repeaters”. Thieves hold one repeater near the car and another repeater as close as possible to the victim’s house to reach the key fob located inside. This tricks the car and key fob into thinking that they are near each other, which allows the thieves to unlock the car door and start the engine.

For its part, Hyundai says that it is working hard to combat thefts and will be introducing software and hardware updates that will help prevent them.

The question for all manufacturers at this point, given all the attention being paid to this issue for a couple of years now, is why this has not been done already. What liability might manufacturers face in such circumstances given that the vulnerabilities, and the problems, are well known?

There are a few ways that dealers and consumers can take matters into their own hands to protect themselves from relay attacks. One way is to maintain good security habits, such as by remembering to keep your keys in a faraday box. Vehicle owners can also install a signal- blocking device into their key fobs. This device blocks the key’s signal when it is not in use.

While vehicle theft is trending downwards in Canada, thanks to the efforts of law enforcement authorities, it’s never a bad idea for dealerships to educate their staff and their customers on good vehicle security habits.

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