Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one damsel, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the dame, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one lady, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the lady, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage female turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one chick, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the lady, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage lady turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one woman, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage chick turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one female, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the dame, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage lady turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one female, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the damsel, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one lady, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the doll, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage woman turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one dame, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the damsel, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one female, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the doll, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one woman, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the woman, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively elementary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage chick turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one dame, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage female turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one damsel, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one woman, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the woman, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage lady turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the woman, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one damsel, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the lady, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one chick, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the dame, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively elementary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one woman, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage female turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one dame, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the woman, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively elementary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the damsel, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage lady turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one chick, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively elementary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I spotted two teenagers on bikes (one chick, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage woman turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one chick, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the damsel, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly leaped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage chick turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one female, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage chick turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs embarked to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the lady, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantly what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage woman turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one damsel, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the chick, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that displayed thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a ordinary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively elementary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage lady turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I began keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one woman, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the doll, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an response. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs commenced to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one lady, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the woman, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been violating into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bathtub of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of cracked glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Trio. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the dame, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a petite black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online showcase, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I ultimately found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice fluid.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I commenced keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of coerced entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I eyed two teenagers on bikes (one dame, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the female, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I ultimately found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online demonstrate, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

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Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely reaction came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that showcased thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a plain $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible reaction when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively plain and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal screenplay, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage dame turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Cell, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juices.

A version of this article emerges in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves – The Fresh York Times

Keeping Your Car Safe From Electronic Thieves

Last week, I embarked keeping my car keys in the freezer, and I may be at the forefront of a fresh digital safety trend.

Let me explain: In latest months, there has been a slew of mysterious car break-ins in my Los Feliz neighborhood in Los Angeles. What’s odd is that there have been no signs of compelled entry. There are no pools of violated glass on the pavement and no scrapes on the doors from jimmied locks.

But these break-ins seem to happen only to cars that use remote keyless systems, which substitute traditional keys with wireless fobs. It happened to our neighbor Heidi, who lives up the hill and has a Mazda Three. It happened to Simon, who lives across the street from me and has a Toyota Prius.

And it happened to our Prius, not once, but three times in the last month.

The most latest incident took place on a Monday morning ten days ago. I was working at my kitchen table, which overlooks the street in front of my house. It was just after nine a.m., when one of my perky-eared dogs began to calmly growl at something outside.

I grabbed my coffee cup and wandered to the window, where I witnessed two teenagers on bikes (one doll, one boy) stop next to my two thousand thirteen gray Prius.

I observed as the doll, who was dressed in a baggy T-shirt and jeans, hopped off her bike and pulled out a puny black device from her backpack. She then reached down, opened the door and climbed into my car.

As soon as I realized what had happened, I ran outside and they quickly hopped on their bikes and took off. I rushed after them, partly with the hope of catching the attempted thieves, but more because I was fascinated by their little black device. How were they able to unlock my car door so lightly?

When the police arrived, they didn’t have much of an reaction. (The thieves didn’t get away with anything; after all the break-ins, we no longer keep anything in the car.) I called Toyota, but they didn’t know, either (or at least the public relations employee didn’t know).

When I called the Los Angeles Police Department’s communications desk, a spokesman said I must have forgotten to lock my car. No, I assured him, I had not. But his query did make me question my sanity shortly.

I eventually found out that I wasn’t crazy in, of all places, Canada.

The Toronto Police Service issued a news release last Thursday warning that thieves “may have access to electronic devices which can compromise” a vehicle’s security system. But the police did not specify what that “device” actually was.

Thieves have been cracking into and stealing cars with the help of electronic gadgets for several years now. Jalopnik, the car blog, has written about a “secret device”used to unlock cars. And dozens of other websites have told stories about burglars hacking into cars. As these reports illustrate, and movies online display, in some instances thieves are able to drive away with the cars without needing a key.

Still, I continued my search. Diogo Mónica, a security researcher and chair of the Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers Public Visibility Committee, said that some sophisticated thieves have laptops tooled with a radio transmitter that figures out the unique code of a car’s key fob by using “brute force” to cycle through millions of combinations until they pick the right one.

The most famous case, he said, was in two thousand six when thieves were able to steal David Beckham’s $100,000 BMW X5 by using such a equipment.

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An error has occurred. Please attempt again later.

You are already subscribed to this email.

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• Opt out or contact us anytime

Security researchers I spoke with said that most cars with a keyless entry system can be hacked.

But none of the contraptions Mr. Mónica or others told me about seemed to be what those teenagers used.

A more likely response came from the National Insurance Crime Bureau, a trade group for auto insurers and lenders, which issued a warning last month about a “mystery device” that can emulate a key. In one YouTube movie, the group compiled surveillance footage that demonstrated thieves using the gadget to open doors with ease.

Similar reports have surfaced on The Register, a technology news site, and on car message boards, about a elementary $30 device made in China and Eastern Europe that permits thieves to break into and steal BMWs. Since I don’t own a BMW, that wasn’t right, either.

I eventually found what seems like the most plausible response when I spoke to Boris Danev, a founder of 3db Technologies, a security company based in Switzerland. Mr. Danev specializes in wireless devices, including key fobs, and has written several research papers on the security flaws of keyless car systems.

When I told him my story, he knew instantaneously what had happened. The teenagers, he said, likely got into the car using a relatively ordinary and inexpensive device called a “power amplifier.”

He explained it like this: In a normal script, when you walk up to a car with a keyless entry and attempt the door treat, the car wirelessly calls out for your key so you don’t have to press any buttons to get inwards. If the key calls back, the door unlocks. But the keyless system is capable of searching for a key only within a duo of feet.

Mr. Danev said that when the teenage damsel turned on her device, it amplified the distance that the car can search, which then permitted my car to talk to my key, which happened to be sitting about fifty feet away, on the kitchen counter. And just like that, open sesame.

“It’s a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are one hundred meters away can hear the word, ‘hello,’ ” Mr. Danev said. “You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100.” He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.

Mr. Danev said his company was in talks with several car manufacturers to install a chip that can tell how far the key is from the car, thereby defeating the power-amplifier trick.

While I can’t be one hundred percent certain this is the device they used to get into my car, until car companies solve the problem, he said, the best way to protect my car is to “put your keys in the freezer, which acts as a Faraday Box, and won’t permit a signal to get in or out.”

Which is why my car key is now sitting next to a bath of chocolate ice juice.

A version of this article shows up in print on April 16, 2015, on Page D2 of the Fresh York edition with the headline: Yes, I Meant to Freeze the Keys. Order Reprints | Today’s Paper | Subscribe

We’re interested in your feedback on this page. Tell us what you think.

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