Fiat Chrysler Automobiles may not be the only automaker with hacking vulnerabilities to worry about as a new report suggests that over 100 million Volkswagens are susceptible to remote hacking.
A lengthy report compiled by four security experts from the U.K’s University of Birmingham says that most of the vehicles Volkswagen has sold since 1995 are at risk, equating to well over 100 million vehicles.
The researchers assert that hackers are able to intercept signals from a driver’s key fob by using an advanced piece of radio hardware. What this means is that a hacker can “eavesdrop” at up to 300 feet from a vehicle and intercept the signal sent when the driver presses the key fob to either open or lock the car.
Hackers are then able to clone that signal and therefore gain access to the car. All that’s apparently needed to do this is a radio, a laptop and some hacking know-how.
Motor Trend says the researchers in question found numerous vehicles from the Volkswagen Group with this vulnerability, including the 2016 Audi Q3 and a number of older models.
Interestingly, Volkswagen issued a statement following the release of the damming report asserting that the current Golf, Passat, Tiguan and Touran are not at risk. However, it failed to confirm or deny if and how many of its vehicles are at risk.
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