Ring security footage from a home in the UK shows two car thieves using a keyless entry hack to steal a 2019 Tesla Model S in under 30 seconds. They used a technique called the relay attack where a box and its wires are used to detect if the vehicle keyfob is nearby, and if so, the signal is copied and transmitted to the second person standing next to the car. Read more for the video and additional information.
Since the keyfobs signal was copied, this means not only can they get inside the car, but also swiftly drive off in it, or at least if the owner doesn’t realize what’s going on. How can Tesla owners block these types of relay attacks? By simply disabling Passive Entry when parked in public spaces and / or storing your keyfob in a holder which blocks electromagnetic transmissions, like an RFID-blocking sleeve.
