If you are an owner of one of the 1.2 billion cars in the world, the thought of someone breaking into your car could be one of your nightmares. The truth of the matter is that unless you are a crook with sophisticated code blocking devices, the average person won’t be able to walk up to your car and unlock it with their remote.
The handheld devices you use to open your car, otherwise known as key fobs, have evolved greatly since the 1950s when remote control technology was first used to open garage doors (via Mental Floss). Back in those days, the science was rudimentary at best, and all remote fobs sent out the same signal. This meant that as long as you owned one you could pretty much open any door, anywhere you wanted.
When it came to cars, however, remote entry systems were a little more evolved. Manufacturers devised a system where each car had its own code that could not be used with any other car. While this was a significant improvement in terms of safety over its predecessors, there was still a major security issue, car owners had to contend with. The codes were not varied which made them vulnerable for hackers to steal these codes with “code-grabbing” devices and use them to unlock your door in a matter of minutes. Thankfully, times have changed and manufacturers have since come up with better ways to keep your car secure.
It’s all in the code
From the mid-1990s, auto manufacturers used rolling codes, also known as hopping codes in their keyless entry systems. These codes replaced single codes that were previously used and led to making it harder for criminals to steal your car (via The New York Times). This new rolling code technology worked by syncing the transmitter found inside your fob remote with a controller chip located in a receiver that’s in your car. By working together, they are able to randomly generate new codes every time you lock or unlock your car. This means that there could be billions or even trillions of possibilities of what the next code will be.
With this level of encryption, you would never have to worry about your vehicle after you walk away from it. Also, it would thwart thieves from using sneaky code-grabbing devices that can intercept and clone signals from your remote so they could break into your car.
