Relay Attack Prevention for Keyless Go Vehicles
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Solution Overview
Problem
Existing remote car starter systems, particularly those integrated with Passive Keyless Entry and Start (PKES) and Smart Start systems, are vulnerable to relay attacks that can allow thieves to steal vehicles, requiring additional security measures like response time constraints to counter these threats.
Innovation Solution
A system with two interfaces, one inside the vehicle and another on the key fob, relays challenges and responses to mimic user interactions, allowing remote starting without introducing significant delay, using low and high-frequency transceivers to communicate and authenticate, thus enabling secure remote starting.
Engineering Contradictions & Design Principles
Engineering Contradiction Analysis
1Reliability
If relay attacks are used to steal vehicles, then unauthorized access is gained, but security measures like response time constraints are required to counter these threats
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary device positioned between the vehicle and the key fob that captures challenges from the vehicle, relays them to the key fob, and forwards the responses back. This intermediary approach allows legitimate remote starting while maintaining security protocols, as it preserves the challenge-response authentication mechanism without introducing significant delay that would trigger security countermeasures.
Solution Approach 2:
The system segments the authentication process into distinct components: challenge emission by the vehicle, challenge capture by the intermediary, relay to the key fob, response computation by the key fob, and response forwarding back to the vehicle. This segmentation allows each component to operate independently and efficiently, maintaining security while enabling remote starting functionality.
2Reliability
If response time constraints are implemented to counter relay attacks, then security is improved, but legitimate remote starting may be blocked due to introduced delay
Solution Approach 1:
The intermediary device rushes through the challenge-response authentication process by capturing challenges and relaying them to the key fob, and forwarding responses back to the vehicle, in a manner that minimizes total transmission time. This allows the system to complete authentication faster than traditional relay attacks, staying within security time constraints while enabling legitimate remote starting.
3Ease of operation
If traditional remote car starters are installed in vehicles with PKES systems, then remote starting is enabled, but the system requires devices that interact closely with the car's on-board systems
Solution Approach 1:
The patent introduces an intermediary device positioned between the vehicle and the key fob that captures challenges from the vehicle, relays them to the key fob, and forwards the responses back. This intermediary approach allows legitimate remote starting while maintaining security protocols, as it preserves the challenge-response authentication mechanism without introducing significant delay that would trigger security countermeasures.
Solution Approach 2:
The intermediary device is designed to work with various PKES and smart start systems by implementing universal challenge capture and response relay functionality. It can interface with different vehicle models and authentication protocols, providing a multi-functional solution that enables remote starting across different vehicle platforms without requiring custom integration for each system.
Data Source
AI summary
A system for remote starting a vehicle equipped with a keyless go system. The keyless go system is adapted to start the vehicle upon receipt of a proper response to a challenge emitted by the keyless go system, the response being computed by a key fob. A first interface is located proximate the keyless go system, the first interface being adapted to relay the challenge from the keyless go system to a second interface, and to receive the response from the second interface and relay the response to the keyless go system. A second interface is located proximate the key fob, the second interface being adapted to receive the challenge and relay the challenge to the key fob and being adapted to receive the response and relay the response to the first interface. The car can be remote started from a distant location, without having to disable the on-board security system of the car.