Given that the best way to store your car keys at night is by putting them in a coffee can, what’s an ex-FBI agent’s advice to protect cars from theft during the day?
Wrap car fobs in aluminum foil.
“Although it’s not ideal, it is the most inexpensive way,” said Holly Hubert, a cybersecurity expert who retired in 2017 from the FBI in Buffalo, New York. “The cyber threat is so dynamic and ever changing, it’s hard for consumers to keep up.”
Now, as CEO of GlobalSecurityIQ, she suggests clients go online and spend a few dollars and buy what’s called a Faraday bag to shield the fob signal from potential theft. Imagine a traditional sandwich bag made of foil instead of plastic.
Thing is, the car is always waiting for the fob signal. Thieves can buy legitimate devices that amplify the fob signal sitting unprotected in a purse, a pocket, on a counter at home or even just copy the code to access the vehicle.
Copying code from key fobs isn’t difficult. And this is something the auto industry and insurance companies are monitoring closely.
The cheap (or homemade) metal protection covers, named for the scientist who figured out how to block an electromagnetic field, can prevent thieves from having access to vehicles with a wireless fob. Currently, thieves can capture fob signals from outside a home, office or hotel room.
Cybersecurity experts say privately that anyone who knows anything about the ease of auto and personal data hacking practices safe fob storage.
Clifford Neuman, director of the University of Southern California Center for Computer Systems Security in Los Angeles, pointed to the millions of consumers who now carry their credit cards in a protective pocket designed to work as a Faraday cage.
