The tech used here is the popular Flipper Zero, an ethical hacker’s swiss army knife, capable of all sorts of things such as WiFi attacks or emulating NFC tags. Now, 404 Media has found an underground trade where much shadier hackers sell extra software and patches for the Flipper Zero to unlock all manner of cars, including models popular in the U.S. The hackers say the tool can be used against Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other brands, including sometimes dozens of specific vehicle models, with no easy fix from car manufacturers.
The real issue here is that the systems that car manufacturers use for their vehicles are insecure and outdated. The Flipper Zero is just exposing their bad design decisions.
On the bright side, all the car thieves that knew how to open a steering lock have all grown up, so a club lock is probably going to be the best defence outside of a kill switch. Great for road rage, too
“We’re seeing an increase in new care purchases” “What changed?” “We made them super easy to steal”
Blaming the flipper zero for hacking is like blaming lockpicking tools for why masterlock sucks so much.
If you can hack a car with a flipper zero, then the car manufacturers failed to implement the most basic security protocols. Complain to them, and demand a fix.
Fucking real! My car (2016 Toyota Avalon) uses a rolling code for the transponder! It’s like one of the most basic things any manufacturer can do to avoid this shit! And it can’t be more than a few dozen lines of code (I’m no expert so this may be an exaggeration)?
It is almost like their should be something written down somewhere. Like a guideline or rule or something…
Oh that is right, it is called a regulation requiring basic wireless security for extremely expensive consumer items.
“ethical hacker’s swiss army knife” I hate it when they always add “ethical”. First of all, when you say ethical you mean law-fearing, they don’t really care about ethics and, secondly, “regular” hackers use it too, so it’s just a hacker’s swiss army knife…
My ethical gun is safer than your criminal gun.
Tbf, unironically yes. The most dangerous part of a gun is the thing attached to the grip. A real “problem exists between keyboard and chair” situation.
It is true that this device can be used nefariously. But it’s just a computer with a wide variety of very basic and common communication methods along with software to exploit them. There are many other computers like it that are just less popular. And to ban it is to ban said basic communication hardware like radio, WiFi, NFC, etc.
The solution is to mandate companies to provide a minimum level of security. Even giant companies with good reputations have giant security holes, like Apple or your bank, implementing mandatory SMS as 2FA. That shit should be illegal.
Fear of the Flipper Zero is fear of people having direct control of consumer grade radio hardware. “You can’t let people have universal TV remotes, what if they push the buttons?!”
To be clear, the flipper is just a Girl Tech IM-me with an NFC chip. If it lets people do a thing, that thing has been possible for decades. Just wait until someone makes a popular device based on a cheap fully featured wideband SDR like the AD9363 or LMS7002. Shit is gonna get fucking wild.
Girl Tech?
Bro.
Stares in old lady
And here I am just using my flipper zero to turn my fan on and off since the remote that came with it sucks.
I use it at work to clone a customer’s proximity card when I work in their building so they don’t have to leave me theirs to get around. The one legitimate use I found.
I guess being able to trigger the customer service announcement without having to find a button in a store is nice.
That’s … not a legitimate use.
That’s probably debatable, if they have permission. They probably shouldn’t have been given permission, but that’s a separate issue
I like to hijack the robot vacuum when I go to DnD and ring my parents doorbell when I visit.
I’m fond of skipping Kid Rock songs on the local dive bar’s touchtunes.
I would let all the power go to my head with that one. Not that I go outside, let alone to bars.
Sometimes you gotta do what you gotta do, unless you want to hear Kid Rock butcher Sweet Home Alabama (which itself butchered Werewolves of London, and was only still good because you can hear Van Zandt drop his donuts, goddamn, in the back of the track) for the fourth time tonight.
Didn’t Sweet home Alabama precede Werewolves of London? Also, what does “drop his donuts” mean in this context?
Yes, which is why it’s weird they were able to steal it, gol’dang time travelers. No I wasn’t mistaken, time travelers. No I’m not bias because Warren Zevon rules, I said time travelers.
“Drop his donuts” means his dough circles fell off a table during the studio recording. You can hear him say “my donuts! Goddamn!” in the back of the track, it’s hilarious.
