High tech thieves are targeting keyless entry cars. Becoming more prominent is the option to enter your car and start it without a key. We rely on the quality of the software and the strength of encryption. But what happens as your car ages and over time strong encyption becomes weak encryption? I can see a day where a thief simply walks past older cars in a mall parking lot to have doors pop open or engines start. Or perhaps I sit down in the drivers seat to see a message on the dash "Important security update available! Download now?" I’ll ponder my watch knowing I’m already late but a security update means a vunerability in my security system has been found and the thieves know it. BUT! If I update and restart my car, it might not work. I am powerless but to turn on my best Shatner, clench my fists, look to the ceiling, and as the camera pans out scream "Gaaaaattees!" (hear Shatner)
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Hey, you can’t blame this one on ole’ Billy Boy (as Bush would probably call him if he was in the oil business). Blame the NSA for forcing weaker encryption standards so that they don’t get befuddled trying to decrypt things.
I saw this before though and the concept is pretty scary. What I don’t understand is, how much of a burden is it really to stick the hardware key into the freakin’ lock? Are we really ALL that freakin’ lazy that doing that is simply too much effort?
Oh yes! Good ol’ NSA and the DES backdoor!
I like the idea of doing away with keys. Nothing frustrates me more than fidgetting with keys in the dark only to get them oriented with the lock correctly and drop them as I try to insert the key into the lock. A nice voice command or biometric should do the trick. I’m not quite ready to have an rfid tag implanted in me but the thought of waving my hand near a door and having it open is pretty cool. I don’t see it as lazy as much as doing away with an unnecessary step.
However, I think I’ll keep my key. I come from the school of thought that a lock just keeps an honest person honest; but we might as well give the crook a little bit of a challenge.