It really irritates me when I find out how absolutely stupid people who design security systems are. They take all kinds of shortcuts that "look" secure, but when you actually dig into the technical details, it's obvious that the designers have no clue what the experts actually consider "secure."

The latest in stupid security tricks comes from the folks at Toyota with their Prius RFID key fobs. They apparently employ 64-bit encryption on these fobs, making it quite possible to simply brute force break the encryption. And it's not like they need the key, either. All they've gotta do is make your key emit data through the air and they can crack the encryption.

The complaint from Toyota? It costs too much. Well guess what, folks, good security isn't cheap. Customers who are paying out their posterior for a Prius deserve a better system. 64 bit encryption can be cracked in an hour. How about 256 bit encryption, which shouldn't be crackable within our lifetime?

Via Treehugger