Hackers Can Steal a Tesla Model S in Seconds by Cloning Its Key Fob

wired.com

13 points·okket··5 comments

If you have to click the key fob (the default) to unlock the car, you are safe from this attack, and don't have to upgrade your keyfobs.

A firmware update deactivated the touchless entry feature and warned about this ages ago.

What would be the reasons one would chose a 40 bit encryption key over, say, 256 bit? Is it cheaper?

40 bit only stayed on the market because of US export control. It is convenient to not have to know arbitrary details about your customers, not have to NDA all your docs, and not risk fines and an inability to export your product.

>But if owners of a Model S ... don't pay to replace their key fob with the more strongly encrypted version—the researchers say they're still vulnerable to their key-cloning method.

Great customer service. I would never buy from Tesla.

"Hey, that great car you bought from us, well err.. It kinda has a very bad lock. We opted to let you find that out on your own first, and now that you did, please pay this bill I'm shoving in your face so we can have more money. Then we'll fix it. Oh, and in the very unlikely cough case that our new lock also gets hacked, be prepared to give us some more money. Because you know, your car is more like a subscription to a service, not something you own that has things like guarantees or a warranty."

You mean in contrast to all the other car manufacturers that are also vulnerable and don't hand out new keys? Audi, BMW, Ford, Nissan, Mazda, Mercedes... Haven't read about a lot of manufacturers giving customers new/updated keys TBH

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