Millions of VW cars affected by keyless hack

European computer security researchers this week will present their findings on how approximately 100 million Volkswagen Group cars dating back to 1995 are vulnerable to keyless hacks, making them susceptible to theft.

The group cloned VW remote keyless entry controls by recording the signal transmitted when drivers opened their vehicles, said security researchers at the University of Birmingham and a partner at Germany's at engineering company Kasper and Oswald in the conference paper.

"It is conceivable that all VW Group (except for some Audi) cars manufactured in the past and partially today rely on a 'constant-key' scheme and are thus vulnerable to the attacks," the paper said.

The affected vehicles include VW, Audi, Seat and Skoda from 1995 to as recent as the 2016 model of the Audi Q3, according to the researchers.

Volkswagen said it had a "constructive dialogue" with the researchers earlier this year, when the vulnerability was brought to their attention.

However, the automotive group denied that its newer vehicles were affected. "This current vehicle generation is not afflicted by the problems described," said Volkswagen spokesman Peter Weisheit in a statement.

Volkswagen has been dogged by a scandal after researchers in the US discovered its cars were installed with software that cheated emissions tests.

The German automaker in June agreed to compensate US customers in a $14.7 billion (13.2 billion euros) settlement in addition to fines.

ls/rc (Reuters, dpa)