The tech used here is the popular Flipper Zero, an ethical hacker’s swiss army knife, capable of all sorts of things such as WiFi attacks or emulating NFC tags. Now, 404 Media has found an underground trade where much shadier hackers sell extra software and patches for the Flipper Zero to unlock all manner of cars, including models popular in the U.S. The hackers say the tool can be used against Ford, Audi, Volkswagen, Subaru, Hyundai, Kia, and several other brands, including sometimes dozens of specific vehicle models, with no easy fix from car manufacturers.
I don’t think it’s merely “reporting unfortunate news” It’s about the flipper zero, not really about car theft per say and shitty, evil car security system where the dealer scams you as much as the thief for a key.
There’s really no reason we can’t use contactless smartcards for this, and that we can’t program them ourselves with open source software.
The flipper zero itself is completely irrelevant about this. It’s just a generic ISM band transceiver … Only of note to the ignorant and technologically incompetent, but the journos have made this the centerpiece of the article.