NCC Raises Alarm of New Vehicle Hacking Techniques

The Nigerian Communications Commission (NCC)  has issued a warning to the public about a new hacking technique that allows hackers to access and hijack vehicles.

Investors King recalls a similar issue reported some months back on phone and telecom users’ cyberattack schemes that were detected by NCC’s Computer Security Incident Response Team.

Ikechukwu Adinde, NCC’s director of public affairs (DPA), made this known in a statement on Sunday in Abuja.

According to Adinde, the newest alert issued by the NCC’s Computer Security Incident Response Team (CSIRT) stated:

“The fact that car remotes were categorized as short-range devices that make use of Radio Frequency (RF) to lock and unlock cars informed the need to alert Nigerians on this emergent danger.

“The vulnerability is a Man-in-the-Middle (MitM) attack or, more specifically, a replay attack in which an attacker intercepts the RF signals normally sent from a remote key fob to the car.

“It manipulates these signals and re-sends them later to unlock the car at will.

“With this latest type of cyber-attack, it is also possible to manipulate the captured commands and re-transmit them to achieve a different outcome altogether.

“Multiple researchers disclosed a vulnerability, which is said to be used by a nearby attacker to unlock some Honda and Acura car models and start their engines wirelessly.

“The attack consists of a threat actor capturing the RF signals sent from your key fob to the car and resending these signals to take control of your car’s remote keyless entry system,” the advisory stated.

He did say, however, that the NCC-CSIRT has suggested certain preventative measures or solutions in the warning that car owners may use to avoid becoming victims.

The only way to avoid being affected, according to the commission’s cyber-alert unit, is to reset your key fob at the dealership.

“Besides, the affected car manufacturer may provide a security mechanism that will generate fresh codes for each authentication request, this makes it difficult for an attacker to ‘replay’ the codes thereafter.

“Additionally, vulnerable car users should store their key fobs in signal-blocking ’Faraday pouches’ when not in use.”

He urged automobile owners in these categories to choose Passive Keyless Entry (PKE) rather than Remote Keyless Entry (RKE), which would make it more difficult for an attacker to read the signal because crooks would need to be within close range to commit their crimes.

He further explained that the PKE is a vehicular safety feature that opens a door on approach or when the door handle is pulled when the user is in direct range to the car.

He further stated that when walking away or exiting the automobile, the user locks it.

He went on to say that the RKE system, on the other hand, is the industry standard for remotely enabling or disabling a vehicle’s doors and storage area.