[Tbkbabab]

Have an X1 30e and basically someone unlocked the car during the night and briefly opened the drivers door slightly before leaving to check out neighbours cars. This was caught on our CCTV.

I’m puzzled how they opened the car as understood the keys went into sleep mode after a couple of minutes and they hadn’t moved for hours so didn’t think relay was an issue.
I reported it online to the police who actually rang me with some questions, seems been a spate of thefts in our area, they said that unlikely key had been cloned so just get a faraday box or similar and I’m also waiting for local dealer to call me back to advise if need to reprogram or what else I should do.
Thought I would turn off keyless entry/comfort access but don’t see any option in settings to turn it off.

Never had anything issue like this before so maybe I’m no up to date on what these ……….s can do these days.

Any advice or info appreciated as feel this was probably a scouting mission prior to actual thefts.

[paulockenden]

Did the lights come on as the door unlocked? I don’t think it can have been a relay attack, because, as you say, the keys sleep. And cloning isn’t an option because of rolling codes. Perhaps someone has found a way to (electronically) brute force BMW security. Were the neighbours’ cars also beemers?

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by paulockenden

Did the lights come on as the door unlocked? I don’t think it can have been a relay attack, because, as you say, the keys sleep. And cloning isn’t an option because of rolling codes. Perhaps someone has found a way to (electronically) brute force BMW security. Were the neighbours’ cars also beemers?

Only the interior lights and the projected BMW logo appear to have come on, I wondered if we hadn’t locked it but it’s set to lock itself after a couple of minutes anyway.

Neighbours have a 320d and a Merc C class, they said that they only seemed interested in the Merc but don’t think they opened it, neighbours were still up and got an alert from their CCTV and activated their siren.

[Graemeb2812]

I don't belive you can turn off the passive / keyless entry anymore.

Personally, I keep my keys in a good quality faraday case. The spare key along with the digitial key card (the credit card looking thing) are also stored in a Faraday case.

I haven't enabled the digital key on my phone(s) as I suspect these may also be suseptibale to the relay theft's.

I'm not entirely sure I buy the whole' 'key goes to sleep' thing. I assume any minor movement of the key wakens it up.

Mirrors folded out can be a sign to these wonderful people that doors may be unlocked, so it's an idea to ensure these are folded in when parked.

If you have a car on the driveway that isn't keyless entry, use this vehicle to block the keyless entry vehicle.

Consider a Ghost immobiliser and/or OBD blocker / re-router.

Will be interested to hear if the dealership have any input.

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by Graemeb2812

I don't belive you can turn off the passive / keyless entry anymore.

Personally, I keep my keys in a good quality faraday case. The spare key along with the digitial key card (the credit card looking thing) are also stored in a Faraday case.

I haven't enabled the digital key on my phone(s) as I suspect these may also be suseptibale to the relay theft's.

I'm not entirely sure I buy the whole' 'key goes to sleep' thing. I assume any minor movement of the key wakens it up.

Mirrors folded out can be a sign to these wonderful people that doors may be unlocked, so it's an idea to ensure these are folded in when parked.

If you have a car on the driveway that isn't keyless entry, use this vehicle to block the keyless entry vehicle.

Consider a Ghost immobiliser and/or OBD blocker / re-router.

Will be interested to hear if the dealership have any input.

I haven’t activated the digital key card or digital key on my phone.

The car is set up to fold the mirrors when you lock it but it doesn’t always do it, particularly on my wife’s key, and if it locks itself after a couple of minutes it doesn’t fold the mirrors. The mirrors weren’t folded, my wife was the last one to drive it in the morning.

Now have my Abarth,which unlocks and starts with an old fashioned key, parked about 6 inches from the back of it and have a Faraday box and steering lock arriving in the next couple of days.

I’m half way through sorting out my garage so can actually put 2 cars
in it, garage doors are alarmed.

I’ll update if/when the dealer comes back to me.

[J-RO]

https://www.carparts.com/blog/how-to...ch-car-thefts/

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by J-RO

https://www.carparts.com/blog/how-to...ch-car-thefts/

Whatever that is you can’t access it in the UK

[paulockenden]

The key definitely goes to sleep after a minute or so and it’s easy to test this. Needs more than a slight nudge to wake it.

It won’t be a relay attack from the phone because UWB isn’t particularly susceptible to relay attacks.

It’s odd that (at night) only the interior light came on. If the perps had unlocked the car you’d see the headlights come on too.

BMW will have data on when the car was locked/unlocked, as this is transmitted to their servers, but good luck trying to get the info from them!

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by paulockenden

The key definitely goes to sleep after a minute or so and it’s easy to test this. Needs more than a slight nudge to wake it.

It won’t be a relay attack from the phone because UWB isn’t particularly susceptible to relay attacks.

It’s odd that (at night) only the interior light came on. If the perps had unlocked the car you’d see the headlights come on too.

BMW will have data on when the car was locked/unlocked, as this is transmitted to their servers, but good luck trying to get the info from them!

I’m at a loss as to what happened, both keys not moved for hours, I don’t have pass key on my phone or anyone else’s phone. The car Is set to lock after short period of inactivity on both keys and checked and it was working this morning so even if we hadn’t locked the car in the morning it would have locked itself.
I have a video of them approaching the car and one of them opens the door slightly which turns on interior lights and the projected logo from
the bottom of the mirrors but not the exterior lights.

I’ve changed my BMW app password as well as wondered if someone had somehow hacked that and used
it to open the car.

[Fish Fingers]

It sounds like the car may have been left unlocked to me.
Could it have inadvertently been left unlocked when your wife left it?

In the meantime, if you are concerned I would recommend a steering wheel lock, and/or getting cctv (Ring?) set to notify you if it detects a person.

Our Ring system does this overnight, having suffered a particularly bad attack by a masked gang for the car keys a few years ago.

[Fish Fingers]

I also reckon if the thieves had the option to start the car, they would have taken it.
So if Pro thieves who wanted the car would have driven off, that leaves opportunists.

So it looks like they accessed it, but couldn't see anything to steal and moved on looking for other unlocked cars.
They did this on our small road on 2 occasions and it was amazing how many cars were unlocked - including next door whose car door was left open.

From memory the auto lock feature re-locks after a short while only if the car is not opened. If it's opened, the car would stay unlocked.
I still think the car may have been left unlocked.

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by Fish Fingers

It sounds like the car may have been left unlocked to me.
Could it have inadvertently been left unlocked when your wife left it?

In the meantime, if you are concerned I would recommend a steering wheel lock, and/or getting cctv (Ring?) set to notify you if it detects a person.

Our Ring system does this overnight, having suffered a particularly bad attack by a masked gang for the car keys a few years ago.

As per previous posts

the car is set to lock itself after short while, and checked this and it’s working so even if she hadn’t locked it it should have locked itself.

We have CCTV cameras which is how I know what happened and I’ve ordered a steering wheel lock.

[paulockenden]

I /think/ (please correct me if I’m wrong) that auto-locking only locks if you unlock the car but then don’t enter within a short time. It won’t automatically lock the doors at the end of a journey.

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by paulockenden

I /think/ (please correct me if I’m wrong) that auto-locking only locks if you unlock the car but then don’t enter within a short time. It won’t automatically lock the doors at the end of a journey.

My understanding was that if you have comfort access (which it does)
the car will automatically lock itself but I could be wrong as well as I always lock it myself.
I did ask my wife if she locked the car and was treated to some verbals
along the lines of ‘I would never forget to lock it’, she is over the top when it comes to locking everything, our house is like Fort Knox. I may go back and check the CCTV to make sure.

It would be one hell of a coincidence if the 1 day in who knows how long she doesn’t lock the car is the day that some ……….. decides to check out our car in the early hours.

[fueledbycaffeine]

Originally Posted by Tbkbabab

My understanding was that if you have comfort access (which it does)
the car will automatically lock itself but I could be wrong as well as I always lock it myself.
I did ask my wife if she locked the car and was treated to some verbals
along the lines of ‘I would never forget to lock it’, she is over the top when it comes to locking everything, our house is like Fort Knox. I may go back and check the CCTV to make sure.

It would be one hell of a coincidence if the 1 day in who knows how long she doesn’t lock the car is the day that some ……….. decides to check out our car in the early hours.

I’d go out to the car and double check the lock/unlock settings for all users just to make sure.

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by fueledbycaffeine

I’d go out to the car and double check the lock/unlock settings for all users just to make sure.

I already did earlier today, I also checked the CCTV and my wife locked the car when she left it so I am starting to think that there is maybe a fault somewhere which allowed someone to clone or relay the key.
Dealer didn’t come back to me so may drop in there tomorrow.

[John27]

While like others, I use a faraday bag (and faraday box for extra protection), the signal is susceptible to copying at the point you exit or enter the car before the keys have 'gone to sleep'. Certainly there have been cases of cars (who use this type of key) where the signal has been 'grabbed' as the car is left (before they have gone to sleep) and entered once the owner has left the scene. Could it be that the signal was grabbed when you parked the car at home by someone sitting in a car or van nearby and entered later that night?

I believe there was a case in the USA, not a BMW, where the thieves stole a car by knowing the time the owner usually left home in the morning and so timed their attack for about 5 minutes or so before-hand when the owner would likely have picked up the keys before leaving and so would have taken them out of any faraday bag and had 'woken them up'. Quite frightening the lengths they go to. Personally, I have Ghost II Pro fitted to my X1 which makes it harder to steal even if they can get into the car and while nothing is 100% theft proof, it helps (or at least, gives me piece of mind).

[paulockenden]

Copying isn’t an option because of the rolling codes. The only attack vector is relay, and so it would have to take place within seconds of you arriving home.

[paulockenden]

Originally Posted by Tbkbabab

My understanding was that if you have comfort access (which it does)
the car will automatically lock itself but I could be wrong as well as I always lock it myself.

Horse’s mouth (or rather, manual):

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by John27

While like others, I use a faraday bag (and faraday box for extra protection), the signal is susceptible to copying at the point you exit or enter the car before the keys have 'gone to sleep'. Certainly there have been cases of cars (who use this type of key) where the signal has been 'grabbed' as the car is left (before they have gone to sleep) and entered once the owner has left the scene. Could it be that the signal was grabbed when you parked the car at home by someone sitting in a car or van nearby and entered later that night?

I believe there was a case in the USA, not a BMW, where the thieves stole a car by knowing the time the owner usually left home in the morning and so timed their attack for about 5 minutes or so before-hand when the owner would likely have picked up the keys before leaving and so would have taken them out of any faraday bag and had 'woken them up'. Quite frightening the lengths they go to. Personally, I have Ghost II Pro fitted to my X1 which makes it harder to steal even if they can get into the car and while nothing is 100% theft proof, it helps (or at least, gives me piece of mind).

I thought the Relaying needed to use the key to open the car but if they can grab the signal then it’s possible although depends how long after grabbing the signal they can still use it and how close they need to be to grab it. We live down a short and narrow cul-de-sac and any unusual cars or people would be very obvious(and I’ve checked CCTV for last week and wasn’t anything) but the road at the top is only about 60 feet away and quite often get cars parked here even though we can’t see them from our house. At weekends the car will always go out and comeback at about the same time in the morning.

[Tbkbabab]

Originally Posted by paulockenden

Horse’s mouth (or rather, manual):

Yeah think your right the comfort access auto locking is distance not time dependent, seem to be 2 different things. But any case after
Checking the car had definitely been locked with the keys so still scratching my head as to how the unlocked it.

[Fish Fingers]

Hmm interesting that your wife had defo locked it.

I have known where my wife gets home, walks in the house with keys and shopping leaving hatch open.
Goes back out to car for more shopping and closes hatch and walks inside thinking it will lock under Comfort Access .....but it won't, as the keys are in the house.

Also interesting that you say mirrors don't always fold on her key.

Whatever, I am sure if it was targeted, they would have taken it last night.

Get the steering lock (we put reflective tape on ours to make it noticeable) and make sure its locked (light flashing / mirrors in). Set CCTV to alert you and get on with your life.

Our cctv captured another masked intruder more recently casing the back of the house (druggie). It alerted me and I got after him.
Scumbag got caught later that night.