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Canada to ban the Flipper Zero to stop surge in car thefts (www.bleepingcomputer.com)

submitted 9 months ago by L4s@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Canada to ban the Flipper Zero to stop surge in car thefts::The Canadian government plans to ban the Flipper Zero and similar devices after tagging them as tools thieves can use to steal cars.

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[–] agent_flounder@lemmy.world 3 points 9 months ago* (last edited 9 months ago)

Yes it can be used to steal some cars.

Banning it because it can be used to steal cars doesn't make sense

Btw... Some folks may not realize it is a go to tool for many things.

Flipper Zero - Wikipedia Flipper Zero is a portable Tamagotchi-like multi-functional device developed for interaction with access control systems. The device is able to read, copy, and emulate RFID and NFC tags, radio remotes, iButton, and digital access keys, along with a GPIO interface.

It is a swiss army knife for RF access control systems as well as harmless, related things like remote controls.

It is used by penetration testers (information security professionals) to do myriad kinds of legit, legal work in their field.

Like any tool it can be used for good or evil. The problem isn't the tool but the vulnerabilities in cars demonstrating shocking negligence on the part of manufacturers.

Banning the tools just gives us a false sense of security. The vulnerability still exists. It isn't that difficult for someone to either get the tool, reproduce the tool, or make a new tool with existing parts. Meanwhile law abiding people cannot find the vulnerabilities as easily.

This mostly only serves to penalize a smallish company and protect large car manufacturers from the consequences of their negligence.

It is already illegal to steal cars. Why would criminals risking felony jail time care about whether their tools are suddenly illegal, too?