Ontario city may hand out free Faraday bags to curb car theft

Nov 11, 2023

The pilot program proposed by Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is meant to help reduce the number of "relay attacks" in the city

Between 2019 and 2022, car thefts in the Region of Peel, in Ontario, nearly doubled, from 3,119 to 5,811 — there were 95 cars stolen in the first seven days of 2023 in Peel. Now, Brampton Mayor Patrick Brown is proposing a pilot program to curb the number of thefts by handing out free Faraday bags to Bramptonians.The plan is to distribute bags to thousands of car owners in five areas of Brampton.

What is a "Faraday bag"? It's a small bag or pouch into which people can place car keys, in order to block the radio frequency emitted by those keys’ fobs. What's a key fob? It's a small remote control with an RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) chip and an antenna inside, which uses radio frequencies to communicate with another RFID tag inside a reader device – typically a car – attached to a locking system. Each key-fob chip is designed to transmit specific RFID tag information that matches what the reader device has been programmed to accept.

Recently, car thieves have been using "relay attacks" to intercept that RFID tag information from car keys located near the front doors of people's houses, copy the radio signal on their own device, then use the signal to easily and wirelessly unlock the car's doors. The Faraday bag, because it blocks the frequencies emitted by the fobs, effectively foils relay attacks.

Brown said a Faraday bag "is a $6 item that can protect a $60,000 car from being stolen in less than 60 seconds."

"Car thieves use the vulnerability in the key fobs to steal cars in under 60 seconds," explained Brampton City officials in a release. "Thieves read the radio frequency of the key fobs in your house and relay that frequency to your car on the driveway, tricking the car into thinking the key fob is next to, or in, the car. Because of this vulnerability, keyless ignition vehicles are now the prime targets of car thieves."

Brown's motion will be presented in a committee meeting for debate on Wednesday, February 1, 2023, and, if passed, it will be confirmed at a city council meeting the following Wednesday, February 8, 2023.

Brown must be an avid reader of my work, as he quietly slipped a Kana-worth pun in this quote: "Auto theft represents hundreds of millions of dollars of financial loss to Brampton residents and is a major contributing cause of high insurance premiums. It's time to put the brakes on," Brown said.

Let's hope this motion passes and doesn't end up sheeting the bed.

Jay Kana specializes in video and written reviews, is a pun connoisseur, and an avid kayaker. He's often playing guitar to his cats when we're not working him to the bone.

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