A New Approach to Detect and Thwart Replay Attacks on Car Remote Keyless Entry Systems from Stratosphere

Replay attacks orchestrated from a high-altitude platform station (HAPS) in the stratosphere for car theft represent an emerging threat. Indeed, most previous research into replay attacks on cars has focused on limited factors such as the proximity of the attacker and physical properties like frequency. However, exploring the attacker’s position in a wider area has not been studied until now. Our study first presents an attack model where the attacker is in the stratosphere and a signaling model. We then illustrate that, if a HAPS performs this attack, it has a wide coverage area and can affect many vehicles. Angle of arrival (AoA) information can be robustly used to detect the source and determine if there is an attack. This poster explores in detail the process flow of the attack and suggests countermeasures.