With theft of keyless cars on the rise, we ask what can you do to secure your vehicle.

Car crime, we seem to hear about it constantly now. And with car theft up 25 percent in the last couple of years it’s no surprise. The last decade has seen a huge shift in car technology, with computer technology changing many aspects of owning and running a car. Whether it’s GPS, smart gear change systems or self-driving technology we can’t help but integrate technology into transport. This has made many things automotive much easier to manage and monitor but it also has a dark side. It has made many vehicles much more prone to hacking and theft.

It’s pretty normal for cars now to have keyless entry and starting systems. Long gone is many a key barrel to make way for a start button. No more fumbling for your keys in your pocket or bag. Anything to make life a little bit easier right? But this has also made something else easier – stealing!

With the correct tools and knowledge a new breed of thief can take your car very easily. And without inflicting so much as a scratch on it. The keyless entry tech uses signals sent from the key to the car which can be copied and replicated from specialist devices. All the criminal needs to do is be in the vicinity of the signal.

What can be done to prevent this? It is recommended that you keep your keys in a protective box, often referred to as a faraday cage. This is a box that blocks the signal from the key to the vehicle. As well as using one of these there are also new theft prevention devices like the Ghost immobiliser https://www.ghostimmobilizer.co.uk/. This kind of device uses the vehicle’s CANbus technology to implement a pin code that allows the car to start. This isn’t done on a number pad but by using a particular combination of pushing the vehicle’s window switches, steering wheel buttons etc. Trackers can also be used but thieves even have ways of blocking these signals.

Car security has become a bit of an arms race now. With manufacturers constantly trying to stay ahead of criminals. Even the government is now considering outlawing the sale of the technology used to scan and replicate the signals from keys.