The 30-Second Silent Theft: How Keyless Relay Attacks Work (and How to Stop Them)
Modern vehicle convenience has a dark side. If your car or SUV features keyless entry and push-button start, it is highly vulnerable to a sophisticated, silent criminal tactic known as a relay attack.
This high-tech method allows thieves to drive away with your vehicle in under 30 seconds without breaking any glass, setting off alarms, or ever touching your physical keys.
Understanding this vulnerability is the first step to securing your property.
The Vulnerability: The "Always-On" Key Fob
Traditional car keys require a physical action to unlock a door. Modern smart key fobs operate on continuous, low-frequency radio waves.
Your vehicle constantly sends out a wireless "ping". When you walk up to your vehicle with the fob in your pocket, the key intercepts the ping and transmits an authorization code back. The vehicle recognizes the code, unlocks the doors, and enables the push-button ignition.
The critical vulnerability is that your key fob is always broadcasting this signal, even when it is resting on your kitchen bench, inside your handbag, or sitting on your bedside table.
Step-by-Step: How a Relay Attack Happens
A relay attack does not require advanced hacking skills or code-cracking software. It simply uses cheap, readily available electronic amplifiers to fool your vehicle.
The process typically involves two criminals working in tandem:
Why Is This Trend Skyrocketing?
The equipment required to pull off a relay attack can be purchased online for very little money. Because the crime is completely silent and incredibly fast, it carries a very low risk of immediate detection for the criminal.
Insurance and automotive authorities globally have reported massive spikes in technology-assisted vehicle thefts. Vehicles are frequently targeted straight out of residential driveways while owners are fast asleep inside.
How to Completely Stop Relay Attacks
Basic precautions like hiding your keys away from the front door help, but they do not eliminate the risk entirely. High-powered modern amplifiers can pull a signal through thick walls and over distances of up to 100 meters.
The only definitive way to defeat a relay attack is to block the radio signal entirely.
This can be achieved as simply as using a Faraday Pouch. The issue with this method is that in order to confirm that not even the slightest signal is available outside of the pouch, it needs to be tested using the same high-powered modern amplifiers the thieves use. Having said this, it is a good, cheap option that is likely to work in most cases.
FOB-X was developed to negate the requirement for a faraday device and any uncertainty on its effectiveness. FOB-X is a key FOB replacement and as such, the FOB-X function to disable the FOB signal is always where the key is.