Electric garage door opener code hacker?

[Farmer17]

My best friend's house was just burglarized in Oklahoma City, and the police said the thieves used a device to hack into the garage door opener frequency to get in. They said this is a new type of burglary that is becoming very common. The thieves apparently went to the master bedroom first and pulled the pillow cases off the bed and filled them with jewelry, cash, and small items. They really didn't take much and only took things apparently that were small enough to go in the pillow cases. There were shotguns and computers and many other things of value that were untouched. The police advised always locking the door between the house and garage and getting a monitored alarm system, and this crime was committed in the middle of the afternoon and in a very nice neighborhood. Does anyone know about these devices and any other ways to protect against them?

 

[Watchdog]

My best friend's house was just burglarized in Oklahoma City, and the police said the thieves used a device to hack into the garage door opener frequency to get in. They said this is a new type of burglary that is becoming very common.

It is becoming more commonplace. There have been several instances of this around here recently.

The police's advice about keeping interior doors locked is sensible, and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't keep the garage-to-house access door locked, even when they're at home. Seriously...you're inside the living area of your house and want to go into the garage, right? How many seconds does it take to unlock the door? Two? Three?

Does anyone know about these devices and any other ways to protect against them?

If a device can be hacked, sooner or later, it will be hacked. It's becoming a fact of life in the 21st Century.

Garage door openers? Why not just disconnect the thing and open the garage door yourself?

 

[hoc9sw]

I lived in Europe for a while - remote control garage door openers died as fast as they came on the market. Radio control kids would sit at the end of the street and play with frequencies until one or more doors opened, then in they went for the haul.

Locking the door between the house and garage is a minimum step. Putting the opener on a switch is also a way of keeping someone out while you are home - turn off the switch, no remote.

 

[cowart]

Does anyone know about these devices and any other ways to protect against them?

You could disconnect or disable your original opener's electronics, and then install a smartphone based opener/controller.

 

[LVSteve]

The police's advice about keeping interior doors locked is sensible, and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't keep the garage-to-house access door locked, even when they're at home.

My ex-MIL didn't get this one either. I was raised in London, and if a door has a lock, I use it.

 

[Tom S.]

20 years ago, I used to get a catalog in the mail that specialized in police products and they had one back then. It was basically a mass attack item, cycling through all the frequencies until it hit the right one. It wasn't cheap, over $400 IIRC.

The only sure way to prevent someone from using this with your door would be to unplug the opener, which kind of defeats having one. You might be able to shorten the internal antenna or build a partial Faraday cage around the opener to reduce the effective range an opener would work too.

BTW: also heard of this being used to open cars and steal their contents.

 

[Watchdog]

You could disconnect or disable your original opener's electronics, and then install a smartphone based opener/controller.

Then your phone would get hacked.

Don't think it can't happen.

 

[cowart]

Then your phone would get hacked.

The app that opens and closes the garage door from your phone could be easily hidden or password protected. End of problem.

The entire phone can be password protected. Thats probably a good idea anyway if the phone provides access to your bank account, credit cards, pictures of your naked wife, etc.

 

[Kanewpadle]

It is becoming more commonplace. There have been several instances of this around here recently.

The police's advice about keeping interior doors locked is sensible, and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't keep the garage-to-house access door locked, even when they're at home. Seriously...you're inside the living area of your house and want to go into the garage, right? How many seconds does it take to unlock the door? Two? Three?



If a device can be hacked, sooner or later, it will be hacked. It's becoming a fact of life in the 21st Century.

Garage door openers? Why not just disconnect the thing and open the garage door yourself?

The problem is, once their in the garage, there aren't too many interior doors strong enough to keep them out for long. And I'm willing to bet that after I closed the garage door, I could find a chain saw, pry bar or something that will enable me to get in quickly. All you need to do is smash a hole through the sheet rock and unlock the door.

There isn't anything secure with garage doors that use radio frequency openers or key pads outside. And I'm still not convinced that cell phone apps are all that secure either.

And many people cannot lift a garage door. Too heavy.

I can't say how, but I gotten into a few garage doors using simple tools.

 

[Kanewpadle]

The app that opens and closes the garage door from your phone could be easily hidden or password protected. End of problem.

The entire phone can be password protected. Thats probably a good idea anyway if the phone provides access to your bank account, credit cards, pictures of your naked wife, etc.

Their not hacking your phone. They intercept the signal to and from the same way they do it with cars that use proximity chips in the key fob. These are vehicles that use push to start ignitions.

 

[DWalt]

I have an alarm sensor on my inside door leading to the garage. If I will be away from home for any length of time, I padlock the door (actually a large padlock through a hole I drilled in the track, that makes it impossible to open the garage door from inside or outside).

 

[Targets Guy]

If anyone hacks mine I hope they tell me how they did it. I can't program my car to open my door. The opener must be ancient.

 

[Arik]

It is becoming more commonplace. There have been several instances of this around here recently.

The police's advice about keeping interior doors locked is sensible, and I can't imagine why anyone wouldn't keep the garage-to-house access door locked, even when they're at home. Seriously...you're inside the living area of your house and want to go into the garage, right? How many seconds does it take to unlock the door? Two? Three?



If a device can be hacked, sooner or later, it will be hacked. It's becoming a fact of life in the 21st Century.

Garage door openers? Why not just disconnect the thing and open the garage door yourself?

On the other hand if you got in simply kicking in the interior door is piece of cake.

I keep mine unlocked because I've been accidentally locked out of my house before...... twice...... thanks to my mom! I can get in through the garage

Sent from my XT1650 using Tapatalk

 

[BC38]

Monitored alarm system with a sensor on the door between the house and garage.
They might get into the garage, but what are they going to steal? My used $100 snow blower?

 

[jimmyj]

Hacking is not always the culprit.
A number of citizens have a electric garage door installed and do not change the code and future tenants don't either.
BGs drive though a area with a generic door opener pressing the button and surprising garage doors open.

 

[Drm50]

It is my understanding the new generation of openers uses some
system of a rolling code. It seems no matter what they do some
one will build a black box to defeat it.

 

[italiansport]

There's another easier way to get in and that's for a crook to push on the upper part of the garage door , reach in and using a hook pull down on the release cord. The door can then be raised manually. There are fixes for this if you look online.
Jim

 

[Cyrano]

When I go away for any length of time, I unplug the garage door opener; they can't hack that.

 

[Steve912]

There's another easier way to get in and that's for a crook to push on the upper part of the garage door , reach in and using a hook pull down on the release cord. The door can then be raised manually. There are fixes for this if you look online.
Jim

Yeah, you just untie the red pull cord.

 

[Faulkner]

This is not anything new, I've worked burglaries via garage door hacking for 20 years.