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.

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Israel aspires to ITS-led future
    May 29, 2013
    Shay Soffer, Chief Scientist with the Israel National Road Safety Authority, talks to Jason Barnes about his country’s current ITS outlook and how he sees this developing in the future. Israel ranks alongside countries such as the US and France in the road safety stakes, with an average 7.1 deaths per billion kilometres driven. But at that point the similarities end, as the country’s overriding issue is pedestrian safety. This is driven by several factors, including being a relatively small country where pe
  • Dubai metro - the world's longest automated rail system
    July 31, 2012
    David Crawford reviews the recent opening of Dubai's Red Line. The US$7.6bn Dubai Metro, the Phase I Red Line of which started partial operation in September 2009, will be the world's longest driverless rail system on its planned completion in 2011. With a total length of some 75km, it will then overtake the 68.7km Vancouver SkyTrain and be able to carry over 1.2 million passengers on a typical day.
  • Transport Ministers call for clarity on NOx emissions, UK begins research project
    June 8, 2016
    On 7 June, EU Transport Ministers debated on the best way to cut NOx emissions from diesel cars in the wake of the VW scandal. They reflected on possible ways to improve existing legislation to avoid illegal use of defeat devices and explored what technical solutions could already minimise emissions. The Dutch Presidency encouraged Member States to share the findings of their enquiries with other. The proposal to update Euro 5 legislation on the use of defeat devices would have increased uncertainties, rath
  • Self-driving car safety perspectives
    June 2, 2015
    At yesterday’s Opening Plenary, Chris Urmson’s keynote speech dealt with the reality of driverless cars on our roads. By far and away their greatest benefit to mankind will be the potential to achieve an incredible saving of life and injury on the roads, as Urmson, director of the Google Self-Driving Car program, revealed to delegates. In response to an Associated Press article last month disclosing that self-driving cars have been involved in four accidents in the state of California, Urmson revealed th