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An innovative device that prevents cars with keyless start and entry from being stolen could save the insurance industry around £380 million a year on car theft claims.

The device, developed by Hard-Off Security, stops vehicle theft by a method called ‘relay-hacking’ and may be fitted to the car’s existing fob. The Norfolk-based company says it is 100 per cent effective at stopping a car’s security system being relay-hacked. 

The solution is based on the principle that the vulnerability of these types of cars to relay attack or ‘cloning’ is due to the fob’s passive response to authentication challenges from the car’s internal security systems.

Being able to easily switch the fob OFF when not in use, either manually or automatically will prevent the fob from responding and therefore render it non-clonable.

This device can be retro‐fitted either by the vehicle owners themselves or by Hard-Off-approved technicians to most existing keyless‐entry/keyless start key fobs and no change to original on‐board car security systems or the key fob is required. It also retains full functionality of the manufacturer’s original specification.

The owner is able to switch the fob ON or OFF using an external magnetic switch on the fob casing which activates or deactivates an internal flexible printed circuit board (fPCB) controlling the fob’s internal power circuits to its ‘mother’ PCB. This gives complete and direct control over the activation of the car owner’s key fob without losing any of the keyless functionality when required. Once the car is locked, the owner can turn the fob off until needed again, making it impossible to be cloned or ‘hacked’. No changes are made to the key fob, so full original manufacturer’s functionality is maintained when ON.

Here the fob is automatically turned off when not in use. The Hard‐Off fPCB turns the fob OFF when motionless for 20 seconds and ON again as soon as movement is detected. This is combined with the external switch as described above.

This fPCB operates completely automatically turning itself ON when needed and OFF when not. The user is unlikely to be aware that this ‘relay attack shielding’ is protecting his or her car as it works intuitively.

Car theft is on the rise. Police crime figures for 2019 show a three per cent increase in vehicle offences, mainly as a result of increases in 'theft or unauthorised taking of a motor vehicle' and 'theft from a vehicle.' 

Figures revealed by the Association of British Insurers revealed that insurance claims for vehicle theft and thefts from vehicles in 2018 topped £376 million, or £16k a minute.

A report by Go Compare in February also revealed that the cost of car insurance is likely to reach record highs in 2020 as insurers push up prices to reflect larger claims costs. An increase in keyless car crime has contributed to the rise in vehicle theft claims.

Managing Director of Hard-Off Security, Mark Churchward, invented the device after his daughter’s car was stolen from her driveway in the middle of the night by relay hackers.

He believes the device can not only give car owners peace of mind, but could also be a major boost for the insurance industry that shells out millions on car theft claims and, ultimately, help to reduce insurance premiums.

He said: “Now that we have a solution to stop car theft by relay attacks it will be interesting to see how the insurance industry reacts as it will save them upwards of £360 million a year on car theft claims. I hope drivers who protect their cars in this way will be able to share in the benefits by not only keeping their car safe but also receive some of that benefit in premium reductions.”

First shipments of the Brit-designed made device will start this month.

CAR SECURITY : New anti-theft device to save millions

Despite revolutions in car technology and security, vehicle theft is still on the rise. Installing a tracking device for your vehicle is one of the most reliable ways to keep it secure. With advances in modern technology too, it’s cheaper than it has ever been before.

Why you should always buy a vehicle tracking device | Car Security, Theft, GPS, VHF

Despite revolutions in car technology and security, vehicle theft is still on the rise. Installing a tracking device (tracker) for your vehicle is one of the most reliable ways to keep it secure. With advances in modern technology too, it’s cheaper than it has ever been before.

In 2017 there were 89,000 vehicle thefts in Britain; up from 56,000 in 2016. Conerningly, 68% of stolen vehicles between 2012 and 2016 went unsolved.

There are fundamentally two different types of tracker:

VHF signal (Very High Frequency - Radio Band)

Some trackers may use a hybrid of the two.

VHF is the system used by all 52 police forces in the UK. It is more dependable than GPS as it can find vehicles even when they are hidden, say underground in a car park. It is also very useful as the signal is only triggered if the vehicle is actually stolen.

GPS has its advanatges and disadvtages over VHF. The main advantages are that it can track vehicles all over the world and can have very high quality feeds. The main disadvtanage is that the signal can be very weak and can struggle to penetrate walls and obstacles. This means if your car is stowed away in an underground car park then it may be difficult to trace.

Many modern tracking systems have complex software that can sense when a vehicle has been stolen. If it believes the vehicle is being driven by an unauthorised driver then it will contact either the police or your monitoring company, who can phone you to determine if you believe the vehicle to have been stolen or not.

In addition to simply locating a vehicle, some trackers can be set up to remotely immobilise a vehicle. This could be invaluable as you could prevent thieves from getting the vehicle to somewhere hidden, meaning you could more easily retrieve it.

There are lots of companies now offering tracking devices, all of which seem to have a different pricing structurer. Some have their devices starting from around £250 and many will also incur a yearly annual subscription. This is usually to cover the cost of hosting route data in their cloud storage, or to provide ongoing monitoring and support services.

Can car tracking devices reduce my insurance premiums?

Yes, definitely. Many insurance companies will offer a discount for protected vehicles, as this is preferable to having to buy you another one if it gets stolen. If the vehicle can be recovered then the insurance company will be able to claw back some of the money, so it’s hugely in their benefit if the car is tracked.

So, potentially, the tracker could pay for itself. Sounds like a win-win… The main caveat is that it all depends on what type of car you have. An expensive car is more likely to benefit from a discount in insurance premiums, and some insurers may be specific about which brands of tracker they accept. Moreover, some insurers will actually insist you have a tracker installed first, depending on the value/type of your vehicle. Always ask your insurer first before signing up.

What to look for when choosing a tracker?

There are a huge variety of tracking devices, all with different features and use different technologies. These are the main things to look out for when choosing the one most suitable for you:

GPS or VHF, or combination of both. If using GPS, it is recommended to have a well-placed GPS and GSM antennae to be able to receive GPS signals as well as send location data via GSM. These days most tracking devices have a GNSS module instead of a GPS module. This is because GNSS combines four different satellite systems: USA’s GPS, China’s Beidou, Europe’s GALILEO, and Russia’s GLONASS into one. This enables you to get the most accurate location wherever you may be in the world. We recommend making sure your tracking device has GNSS installed if going down the GPS route over VHF.

Many modem and tracking devices come with a mobile app for customers to see in real-time where their vehicle is. This is very sought-after and gives complete peace of mind at all times. Bear in mind that this will require GPS and if you have a VHF tracking device and want this feature then it will most likely also need to be GPS enabled. There is often an annual subscription required too for real-time mapping as it involves a lot of data being hosting in the cloud as well as complex sofware.

You may or not require very regular updates to the location of your vehicle. Some trackers will update their locations every 5s-10s while others may be 30s-60s. Some will also allow you to configure your options. A higher interval will mean it uses less power but will not be as good for real-time tracking as a vehicle can travel a lot of distance in 60s. Therefore, plotting the historic movement of the vehicle will not be as accurate.

There are a suite of monitoring options available for different trackers. Below are some of the ones to look out for:

Speed Alerts - The system will alert you when the vehicle travels over a set speed limit. These alerts can be delivered by text (SMS), email or even smartphone push notifications.

Ignition on/off - Alerts for when the vehicle’s ignition is switched on or off.

Route historic log - Some devices will save the vehicle’s route to a cloud hosting provider so you can access this at a later date. This is useful for tracking where a vehicle has previously been but will most likely require an ongoing subscription.

Geo-fence zone - If you use the tracking device for a fleet of company vehicles, or for a child’s first car, you may want to set alerts for when the vehicle crosses a set boundary. For example, if the driver leaves a certain town or county.

International use - If you are likely to be travelling abroad, be sure to check your tracking device is GSM enabled and can transmit in foreign countries. Many of the trackers on the market in the UK will only work on the UK network.

All tracking devices will have an upfront cost and some may also have an ongoing subscription depending on the functionality available with the tracker. Make sure you are aware of all ongoing costs before committing to a specific tracker.

If your vehicle is ever to be stolen you will want to make sure you have a tracking company with good customer support. Read their reviews to see how responsive they are, and check out their stats to see what their success percentage is for retrieving stolen vehicles. Also, if you haven’t already, check out the free DriverBuddy Web App and sign up so you can instantly notify the DriverBuddy community if your vehicle is ever stolen.

If you want very fast reaction times, check if your tracker comes with a central monitoring station and whether or not this is linked with the police. The VHF trackers will transmit on the police frequency so they will be able to track it themselves as well.

There are two options when it comes to installation of your tracker; have it hard-wired into the vehicle’s electrics or simply stuck on as a magnet.

Many wired trackers will need to be professionally fitted (although some can be fitted DIY if you know what you're doing). The upside is that they will not require any form of charging or batteries replaced. They are designed to use the car’s battery in the most energy efficient way so as to not drain its power. These tracking devices will most likely have an installation cost but means they will function indefinitely on that vehicle without any further intervention.

If you would like to track more than one vehicle, or perhaps a bike, then a magnetic tracker may be more suitable. They simply stick on to any metal surface and can be easily interchanged between vehicles. As they are not hard-wired, though, they will be battery operated and will require either regular charging or replacement batteries when they run out.

Trackers can be a big initial payout, and sometimes may have ongoing costs, but this cost could potentially be negated by insurance disocunts. If you're considering a tracker, check the device is approved by The Thatcham Research Group first, as they set the minimum required standards for how they function.

Rewire Security offer a range of fantastic security tracking devices. We would highly recommend their products as they are tried and tested, good value for money, and have excellent reviews.

Why you should always buy a vehicle tracking device

It would be an easy assumption to make that since cars have such advanced technology that it is now considerably safer - and harder to steal - than ever before. That assumption, however, is not necessarily true. In recent years there has been a huge influx in the number of vehicles being stolen via what is known as "keyless car theft".

How to help prevent keyless car theft | Car Security, Faraday Pouch

Many new vehicles are fitted with keyless entry. Essentially this means the owner simply needs to have their key on their purpose, and they can gain entry to the vehicle simply by opening the door when standing nearby. Once the vehicle detects the key, it will unlock the doors automatically. Similar, once you are inside the vehicle, it will automatically detect you are there, and when you press the Start/Stop button the vehicle simple turns on. Effortless.

There is a sinister downside to this awesome new technology though - what if your vehicle gets hacked? Sadly, it's not as far-fetched as you might imagine. More and more vehicles are being stolen this way, and it's a lot simpler than you might think.

Cunning thieves have developed a new strategy to stealing these high-tech vehicles. They simply need to purchase two devices; a Relay Amplifier and a Relay Transmitter. Next, they drive round whichever neighbourhood they choose, and if they see a nice car parked outside one of the houses, they move to the next step...

One of the thieves stands near the desired vehicle holding the Relay Transmitter. The other walked around the property with the Relay Amplifier. The idea is that the amplifier picks up the low signal from the keys inside the house, and amplifies it. The transmitter then picks up this amplified signal. The vehicle is then tricked into thinking the transmitter is actually the key itself and allows instant entry in the vehicle. Once inside, the thief simply presses the Start/Stop button, and they are away.

Frighteningly, with experience this process can be achieved in a number of seconds. It is also completely silent as gone are the days of smashing the driver-side window and setting off the vehicle's alarm (if it even had one!).

Can the criminals use the vehicle without the proper key?

In reality, once the car is turned on and driven away from the property then the thieves will not be able to restart it again once it stops without the correct key. Not a huge issue really, as most stolen vehicles are quickly scrapped and broken down for parts. Usually this happens within 24 hours of the vehicle being stolen, so if it happens to you, then you may have little time to get your cherished vehicle back.

How do I prevent my vehicle being stolen?

The easiest way is to buy a special signal-blocking pouch for your key. This is a simple holder that you can place your vehicle key in which blocks any signal. This way your vehicle can never be stolen in this manner.

It's also advisable to follow vehicle safety best practices, such as:

Ensuring your vehicle is locked at all times

When possible keep it in a secure location, such as a locked garage

Consider fitting wheel locks or additional vehicle immobilisers

Driver Buddy has a unique stolen vehicle alert system. If your vehicle is ever stolen, simply tap the stolen button and all Driver Buddy users will be notified, it will be posted to our social media channels, to social media channels were affiliated with and our custom widgets posted across multiple forums. If anyone sees your vehicle they can report it to us, or directly to the police. We believe this to be an invaluable tool in helping keep vehicles safe and discouraging vehicle theft by making them too hot to handle.

The Driver Buddy App is free to use and takes just a minute to sign up. Sign up today  to Click here to join this growing community of drivers who care about their vehicles.

Monojoy offer a great range of faraday pouches that will block the signal from your vehicle keys. They have a good choice of styles and options available for all tastes, and at a good price. They also have great reviews too!

Tag: theft

CAR SECURITY : New anti-theft device to save millions

Why you should always buy a vehicle tracking device

How to help prevent keyless car theft

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