TITLE:
Vehicle Relay Attack Avoidance Methods Using RF Signal Strength
AUTHORS:
Gyu-Ho Kim, Kwan-Hyung Lee, Shim-Soo Kim, Ju-Min Kim
KEYWORDS:
Authentication; Relay Attack; Signal Strength; Smart Key System
JOURNAL NAME:
Communications and Network,
Vol.5 No.3C,
October
7,
2013
ABSTRACT: The number of passenger cars equipped with a smart key
system continues to increase due to the convenience of the system. A smart key
system allows the driver to enter and start a car without using a mechanical
key through a wireless authentication process between the car and the key fob.
Even though a smart key system has its own security scheme, it is vulnerable to
the so-called relay attacks. In a relay attack, attackers with signal relaying
devices enter and start a car by relaying signals from the car to the owner’s
fob. In this study, a method to detect a relay attack is proposed. The signal
strength is used to determine whether the signal received is from the fob or
the attacker’s relaying devices. Our results show that relay attacks can be
avoided by using the proposed method.