Four European researchers, led by Flavio Garcia from the University of Birmingham, have published a paper detailing how they successfully imitated the remote control key fob signals used by up to 100 million Volkswagen vehicles produced since 1995.
The paper details how the team was able to successfully produce valid key fob signals using around $US40 ($53.50) worth of electronics equipment, including a radio transmitter and receiver, battery, and circuit boards.
According to the researchers, there are four generations of Volkswagen Group key fobs, from 1995 until the introduction of Mark VII Golf, which employ a rolling code that’s encrypted by a single set of worldwide master keys.
With a bit of effort the team were able to isolate and reverse engineer the master keys, which they found hidden in components within the car’s internal communications and control systems.
Once the master keys were obtained, the team were able to easily replicate a key fob’s functionality after intercepting communication from it once, for example when an owner is locking or unlocking their car.
