UC Berkeley Cybersecurity Students Prevent Key Fob-Related Auto Theft
NFC Sentinel is the winner of the Spring 2024 Lily L. Chang MICS Capstone Award
NFC Sentinel, by Master of Information and Cybersecurity students Busher Bridi, Randy Escobedo, Adans Ko, Michael (Mike) Patraw, and Neha Thigale, aims to improve on the security of keyless car key fobs to prevent against advanced methods of auto theft. We interviewed the team to learn more —
What inspired your project?
Mike: We knew auto theft was a significant issue; in 2023, a car was stolen every 30 seconds in the US alone. This alarming statistic became even more concerning when we discovered that a majority of these thefts were carried out without a key or key fob. A video like this from Chicago sparked our interest in finding a solution.
How did the attackers manage this? The answer was the relay attack.
We found a few videos on YouTube showcasing makeshift devices created by hackers, which inspired us to recreate the attack. Seeing something on YouTube doesn’t have the same impact as witnessing it firsthand. When we successfully demonstrated the attack ourselves, it was a mind-blowing moment that underscored the real danger of this method.
Convinced of the severity of the threat, we focused on developing a device that would protect against relay attacks with minimal disruption to daily life. This realization drove us to create a practical and effective solution.
Adans: The alarming rise in key fob-related car thefts in Los Angeles, highlighted by news of a juvenile with a key cloning device, underscores the urgent need for innovative anti-theft technologies. LA suburban city auto detectives have observed a significant increase in the theft of newer model cars, attributed to the use of small, easily concealable devices that can clone key fob signals. These statistics reveal a worrying trend, with a 500% increase in stolen vehicles in suburban areas and a staggering 1,300% rise city-wide within just a year. This situation catalyzed the team to invent robust anti-theft systems that can counteract these sophisticated cloning devices used to carry out relay car attacks.
What was the timeline or process like from concept to final project?
Mike: We faced numerous challenges throughout our project. One of the major hurdles was the cost, as our design required mechanical components. We had to build a physical device, which added complexity and expense. Demonstrating the attack was crucial for our presentation to be impactful. We needed to show how quickly and easily an attacker could steal a car and access a house via the car’s garage door opener.
Randy: We spent three weeks researching passive keyless entry (PKE) systems while simultaneously developing a high-level design architecture for integrating NFC technology into a PKE system. The following eight weeks were filled with test trials of our design, recreating the relay attack in a controlled environment, and re-designing the prototype as we encountered obstacles. We had very ambitious goals from the beginning, so our advisors, I School lecturers Sekhar (Sarukkai) and Ryan (Liu) were instrumental in reducing our scope to a minimal viable product.
Busher: In the early stages of developing our solution prototype we spent a lot of time coming up with different approaches, considered their strengths and weaknesses, and poked holes in them from an attacker’s perspective. This delayed us working on a physical prototype but it ensured that our solution was stalwart and effective. During the development phase of our agreed solution, some technical issues we ran into were ensuring that our prototype wasn’t too far from what a production model would be. We used high end, expensive and unnecessary parts to drive our prototype such as a Raspberry Pi, but we developed the prototype’s code knowing that it would be running on a much smaller integrated chip inside a keyfob. We didn’t rely on the Raspberry Pi’s computing power; rather, we kept our code simple and primitive. We avoided using any high level functions or libraries, knowing that the proof of concept wouldn’t translate to a smaller scale if we did otherwise. We also researched existing components that would potentially be used in a production model and did thermal and power consumption analysis to make sure that what we were proposing was feasible.
How did you work as a team? How did you work together as members of an online degree program?
Randy: The team consisted of individuals with diverse backgrounds and talents, which naturally divided workstreams based on each member’s strengths and interests. Even though this was the first time all five team members worked together on a project, each team member had previously worked with at least one other team member in a different course during our time in the MICS program.
How did your I School curriculum help prepare you for this project?
Busher: A lot of the high-level design process and philosophy for our solution was driven by lessons learned from coursework we took. For example, we knew that security at the cost of utility was to be avoided. The goal of our solution was to be simple, to make sure that adoption would be easy, and that the user would not have to change their behavior or day-to-day lifestyle to get an increase in security. We also made sure that our solution did not introduce any new threats; for example, when doing the threat analysis of our solution, we realized that one of our security features, an incremental lockout timer, could be used by an attacker to lock the system, and we accommodated our design for that. These were lessons and stories we heard in various classes such as Software Security, and Cybersecurity In Context.
Randy: The curriculum of the MICS program courses was carefully designed to provide us with crucial technical skills from subject matter experts. It covered important areas such as software security, threat modeling, risk management, digital forensics, security analytics, and data visualization. Several of these courses required a culminating project, typically centered around writing a paper or developing code, complemented by a comprehensive slide deck. These projects honed our skills in executive-level presentations and primed us for the pinnacle capstone project. This thorough preparation equipped us to tackle this real-world challenge confidently and competently.
Do you have any future plans for the project?
Randy: Absolutely! I believe our prototype has the potential to develop into a full-scale product. Before taking further steps, we are working on getting a patent. Once approved, we will be moving forward.
How could this project make an impact, or, who will it serve?
Mike: Our project stands out because it offers an immediate solution to a pressing issue: car theft. Hackers can capture a key fob’s signal from inside a home and steal the vehicle. This product can benefit all car owners. While it addresses a specific cybersecurity need, it has a wide potential customer base.
Adans:Our product is a cost-effective anti-theft system to prevent relay car attacks. It can be utilized not only by car manufacturers but also on older car models that lack sophisticated anti-theft systems.
Additional info to share?
Mike: NFC Sentinel was a challenge from the beginning. When we first started, we weren’t sure if our idea was feasible or practical. Sekhar and Ryan were the driving force behind our efforts, pushing us to constantly refine and improve our concept. There was a pivotal moment in the semester when Sekhar and Ryan, known for their rigorous critiques, stopped picking our project apart. Instead, they began to see its potential and supported our vision. That’s when we knew we had something special on our hands. This shift in their attitude was a sign that our hard work was paying off, and NFC Sentinel was becoming a viable solution.
During our patent scrub at the beginning of May 2024, we found that Ford Motor Company had received a patent approval for something similar just two days before our search (but after our presentation). At this point, we knew we were on the right track.
Randy: This project strengthens the security of all modern vehicles as PKE systems have become accepted by consumers. It is proactive as it prevents relay attacks from occurring, and yet it is passive as drivers do not need to change how they interact with their vehicles. At its core, NFC Sentinel aims to protect the public by simplifying vehicle security through a novel MFA integration.
