100 Million Volkswagen Cars At Risk Of Being Stolen With Wireless Key Hack

Up to 100 million Volkswagen cars sold over the last two decades could be at risk from car thieves due to a simple wireless key hack.

The massive security flaw was discovered two years ago by researchers from the University of Birmingham who found that hackers could break into cars by simply copying the radio frequency used in the remote control locking system.

“Since they are executed solely via the wireless interface, with at least the range of the original remote control (i.e. a few tens of meters), and leave no physical trace, they pose a severe threat in practice,” the research claims.

The findings were passed onto VW, but the research was previously blocked from being published by a British court.

Other car makers, including Audi, Seat and Skoda, could potentially be affected by the bug, as their locking systems are made by the same firm that VW uses.

Earlier this week, it emerged that around 50 per cent of connected cars are at risk from hackers.

The claim was made by the same security firm that managed to hack and take control of a Jeep in 2015 while it was being driven by a Wired journalist.

Image credit: Volkswagen