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A NY Times columnist had his car stolen by kids who were possibly using a repeater to rebroadcast his key fob:
Keyless entry systems typically only communicate with their remote fobs over the distance of a few feet, but he thinks that the gadget is capable of extending this range, fooling the car into thinking that the remote is within range even though it was actually in Bilton's House, about 50 feet away. He arrived at this theory after he consulted with Boris Danev, a Swiss-based security expert:
"It's a bit like a loudspeaker, so when you say hello over it, people who are 100 meters away can hear the word, 'hello,'" Mr. Danev said. "You can buy these devices anywhere for under $100." He said some of the lower-range devices cost as little as $17 and can be bought online on sites like eBay, Amazon and Craigslist.
Sounds creative and easy. Maybe those clubs aren't so silly after all.
(Score: 3, Informative) by wonkey_monkey on Friday April 17 2015, @09:26PM
It wasn't the unlocking that they rebroadcast, as, I'm sure you're all aware, requires pressing a button.
Nope. Some cars try to contact the fob when someone tries the door handle, and if it's in range, the car will unlock.
Not that we have any real idea what actually happened here. It seems a bit odd to me that a system which is normally supposed to work over a few feet could be amplified with a device 2 feet from the car and 48 feet from the key, but I have no real knowledge on the subject.
systemd is Roko's Basilisk