this post was submitted on 12 Mar 2024
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What is the thing used for?
It can sniff radio packets, so if you have a ridiculously simple security system using RFID, you can record the pattern it emits off a tag when its pinged and play it back to defeat a security system. But no vehicle since the 90s has used a single code system that it would be able to defeat, so it's useless for that.
The way thieves are defeating car locks is when the car listens for a fob within it's security range (like the ones that unlock when you walk up with a fob in your pocket), and if people leave their keys close to a wall where the radio signal can be boosted so it reaches the car, it'll pop the locks. The unit they banned, which is opensource and easily built from components you can get from Digikey or Mouser anyway, can't do this. A common radio repeater or SDR can do this but banning that would be ridiculously onerous on industry.