Skip to main content

Volkswagen sues to prevent hacking of luxury car anti-theft systems

A group of Dutch and British scientists at the UK’s University of Birmingham has discovered the secret algorithm used to identify the identity of each unique ignition key used to start luxury and exotic cars such as Porsches, Lamborghinis, Audis and Bentleys, all part of the German Volkswagen Group. The scientists, Baris Ege, Roel Verdult and Flavio Garcia had hoped to publish the paper at the USENIX Security Conference in Washington next month but Volkswagen sued to prevent them from disclosing key details
July 31, 2013 Read time: 1 min
A group of Dutch and British scientists at the UK’s University of Birmingham has discovered the secret algorithm used to identify the identity of each unique ignition key used to start luxury and exotic cars such as Porsches, Lamborghinis, Audis and Bentleys, all part of the German 994 Volkswagen Group.

The scientists, Baris Ege, Roel Verdult and Flavio Garcia had hoped to publish the paper at the USENIX Security Conference in Washington next month but Volkswagen sued to prevent them from disclosing key details of their work, arguing that publicising the flaw would put the security of some of its most expensive vehicles at risk.

The UK’s high court has imposed an injunction stopping the publishing of such papers, while the university has issued a statement saying it will ‘defer publication’ of the paper.

Related Content

  • July 27, 2012
    Give offending drivers credit for good behaviour
    Andrew Rooke and Dave Marples of Technolution B.V. take a look at what can be done to address a long-standing problem: the all-or-nothing approach of automated enforcement. To start, a brief history of speeding: on 14 November 1896, the first Veteran Car Run was staged in England from London to Brighton. It was organised to celebrate new British legislation to raise the maximum speed of vehicles from four to 14mph while also removing the need for a person waving a red flag to walk in front of the car and wa
  • November 26, 2013
    Pan-European travel information is a reality – at a price
    Pan-European, multi-modal traffic and travel information is now available, for drivers willing to pay for it. Jon Masters reports. Those able to afford a new car with all the latest options including internet connectivity can now look forward to getting detailed up-to-the-minute traffic information. They can also access multi-modal travel data, such as train times, plus weather forecasts and parking availability. Take the connected car to any Western European country and the system still works with live
  • October 28, 2014
    The ABC of CARTES 2014: Apple, Bitcoin and cloud security are all on the conference agenda
    CARTES 2014, the global event for payment, identification and mobility, is fast approaching and the world’s experts in the sector are about to head to Paris for its biggest and most important annual gathering. The 2013 event welcomed more than 20,000 visitors, some 1,670 of whom attended the opening conference - the World Card Summit - while also visiting the 450 exhibitors at the venue.
  • May 18, 2018
    New ANPR solutions overcome variables
    The sheer range of variables makes it difficult to find a single algorithm to ensure a 100% standard of ANPR. David Crawford investigates new processing technology. Automatic number plate recognition (ANPR), using optical character recognition and image-processing to identify vehicles, plays key roles in traffic monitoring and law enforcement, access and parking control, electronic toll collection, vehicle security and crime deterrence. Overall, system performance is well rated, with high levels of