Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini & Porsche models susceptible to theft as Megamos Crypto is broken

2014 Bentley Continental Flying Spur

Volkswagen secured an injunction to prevent report from being published

If you own an Audi, Bentley, Lamborghini or Porsche, you might want to keep an eye on your prized possession as scientists have discovered a way to start the cars without a key.

Details are limited, but a team of researchers found the algorithm (a Megamos Crypto) that the aforementioned models use to recognize an owner's key. Flavio Garcia, along with two Dutch colleagues, planned to publish the results of their finding at the Usenix Security Symposium next month, but Volkswagen successfully secured an injunction against them because the discovery could "allow someone, especially a sophisticated criminal gang with the right tools, to break the security and steal a car."

Volkswagen was willing to let the researchers publish a redacted version of their report, but the group declined citing the public has the right to know about security problem as criminals already know the system is weak.

The Volkswagen Group has been coy about the findings but the recent bout of publicity has shined an uncomfortable spotlight in their direction.