Security Strategy, Plan, Budget

Cold case: Finnish police advise owners to store smart keys in fridge

Finnish police are advising owners of cars with “smart” locking systems to put the keys in the fridge when they are at home.

The advice was issued by the National Bureau of Investigation. “It sounds strange but it makes sense,” Jari Tiiainen from the NBI is quoted as saying on the Finnish website yle.fi.

Cyber-criminals can intercept the signal between the car and the key even from a hundred metres away, but keeping it in a fridge will block the signal.

Eero Heino from the insurance company If said they don't recommend keeping it in the fridge – “foil will do the same job”.

The NBI said that there had not been any cases of smart cars being stolen in Finland – the nearest case was in Sweden.

Sean Sullivan at F-Secure wrote on the company's blog that it was nonsense to keep the keys in the fridge – the cold can damage some batteries – and wrapping it in foil was unnecessary. He suggested if you are worried about your wireless keys, keep them in a Faraday bag, easily purchased and designed to isolate mobile phones from outside interference. 

In August, it was revealed that nearly 100 million Volkswagen cars were affected by a security vulnerability that would allow an attacker to remotely unlock a car without a key. 

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