Reaction and Fixes
The vulnerability exposed by the Hopkins team indicates potential security threats to millions of vehicles which are protected using DST-based immobilizer systems, and to the Exxon-Mobil Speedpass system. The ideal solution to this problem is to replace the DST transponder in these systems with a device provisioned with a more robust cryptographic circuit utilizing a longer key length. However, the cost of recalling these security systems is prohibitively high, and-- as of October 2005-- neither Texas Instruments, Exxon-Mobil or any vehicle manufacturer has announced such a recall. Currently the most effective protections against this attack rely on user vigilance, e.g., protecting transponder keys, auditing Speedpass invoices for fraud, and optionally using a metallic shield (such as aluminum foil) to prevent unauthorized scanning of DST tags. This vulnerability has also spawned the creation of the RSA Blocker Tag and RFID Blocking Wallets.
Read more about this topic: Digital Signature Transponder
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