It's been a while since automobile ignition key crypto was discussed here. An update below from the NY Times.
And what effect on auto theft of the Datacard thievery Bill Stewart got differentialed by at RSA? On electronic sneak attacks, there's a succinct description of NONSTOP, HIJACK and TEAPOT thievery by way of violating encrypted cellphones toward the bottom of this page: http://www.tscm.com/stu.html http://www.nytimes.com/2002/02/22/automobiles/22CARS.html [Excerpts] If you lose the key for a new Lexus RX 300, one northern Virginia dealer charges $300 for a replacement. Even for a plain-jane Taurus, the price is $130 at a Ford dealer here. Neither price is unusual. Dealers have the market mostly to themselves; very few locksmiths or hardware stores can copy the keys to late-model cars. The technology is beyond their capabilities. For most new cars, from the top of the price scale to the bottom, the key is no longer a sliver of notched metal that simply works a mechanical lock; it is now part of an electronic access system, with computer- encoded passwords worthy of James Bond. Colloquially, the new keys are said to have a computer chip inside. Actually, the head of the key contains a tiny robot radio that communicates with the car. Their electronic handshake may include 19 digits, which allows 10 billion-billion combinations. While this makes life more complicated for car owners, it poses a bigger hurdle for car thieves, who so far have not caught up. The new keys have helped to slash the theft rate on some models by 90 percent. The technology differs among manufacturers, but all are similar. At the heart of the system is a tiny electronic device embedded in the head of the key. This device, called a transponder, is essentially a radio that responds to a query from another radio. In older systems, the car sends a question and the key gives a fixed answer. In newer models, Mr. Sabetti said, the car has a random number generator, sending a different message each time the key is inserted. "When the random number is sent to the key head, the key modifies it in a way that would only be known to the vehicle," he said. The answer from the key "has virtually no relationship to the message sent to the key in the first place," he said, or at least none that an electronic eavesdropper could discern. To anyone who intercepted the electronic message, "it would look like garbage," he said. Moving to the transponder system has had several effects. One is to cut out locksmiths. "It can run up to $50,000 for the equipment to duplicate the keys for cars," said Randy L. Simpson, president of the Associated Locksmiths of America, a trade association based in Dallas. And that is for each manufacturer; equipping a shop to make keys for all car brands would be well beyond the means of most locksmiths. For example, on a 2001 Ford Taurus, the car can "teach" a key the proper code. But it is built to do so only if the technician starts the car with one of the keys that came with the vehicle, turns it off, starts the car with the second key that came with the vehicle, turns it off, and then inserts the new key with the metal shaft mechanically cut and the transponder unprogrammed and awaiting instructions. General Motors' keys have a mere 137 billion possible combinations, and a dealer can make a copy with only one of the factory- original keys to work with. But they have another refinement; the systems recognize the difference between a full-access key and a "valet" key that will start the car but cannot be used to "teach" a new key the car's combination, said David T. Proefke, engineering group manager for vehicle security. But however good the system is, Mr. Simpson of the locksmiths association said this was not the last step in car security. "They haven't defeated it yet," he said. "But I'm sure it's just a matter of time." -----
