Computerized Car Keys Cracked

You know those special keys being sold with high-end cars that are "theft-deterrent"? The ones with a microchip in the key to ensure that even a correct duplicate will not work, unless it is built by the car company? (Which, in some ways, I think was really just a way for the car companies to cut Home Depot out of the key-making loop.) Well, they have been cracked by researchers.

The research team at Johns Hopkins University said Saturday it discovered that the "immobilizer" security system developed by Texas Instruments could be cracked using a "relatively inexpensive electronic device" that acquires information hidden in the microchips that make the system work...The radio-frequency security system being used in more than 150 million new Fords, Toyotas and Nissans involves a transponder chip embedded in the key and a reader inside the car. If the reader does not recognize the transponder, the car will not start, even if the key inserted in the ignition is the correct one...It's similar to the new gasoline purchase system in which a reader inside the gas pump is able to recognize a small key-chain tag when the tag is waved in front of it. The transaction is then charged to the tag owner's credit card...Researchers said they were able to crack that code, too.

That's right. Speedpass has been cracked too. Is everyone feeling as safe and secure as I am? Good. Let's all crawl back under the covers now and wait for the monsters to go away.