Ford Motor Company has filed a patent for a vehicular key fob relay attack prevention system, Ford Authority has learned.
The patent was filed on October 29th, 2020, published on May 5th, 2022, and assigned serial number 0139129.
The Ford Authority Take
Ford has filed a number of key fob-related patents in recent years, including one for a smartphone case that turns that device into a key fob, as well as key fobs with remote park-assist functionality. However, key fob security has been an issue for a number of years now as enterprising thieves have figured out ways to hack them and use those stolen signals to in turn make off with the vehicle. This new Ford patent aims to prevent that sort of thing from happening in a number of ways.
This Ford patent outlines a new way to prevent key fob relay attacks by using an authentication system that is able to obtain historical data including the time and location the key fob is used. From there, it would be able to determine if the person trying to use the fob to lock/unlock/start the vehicle is the owner or a potential thief by using that data and predetermined values, choosing to either allow access or deny it.
The patent is pretty broad in nature, leaving open the possibility that other types of values could be used to determine whether or not someone is allowed to unlock the vehicle. Regardless, it’s proof that Ford is exploring additional ways to make key fob relay attacks more difficult to carry out, which is bad news for thieves and good news for vehicle owners.
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Comments
So feasible concepts for key safety are beyond absurd? Are you really that stupid? Either you don’t know jack $hit about intellectual property and the auto industry or you’re just plain dumb.