Car Theft is Skyrocketing in Europe: What the Industry Can Do to Prevent It

According to a recent article in The Economist, a car is stolen every 4 minutes in Britain. Fueled by organised criminal networks and export-focused theft, the number of cars stolen in Britain has risen 74% in the last decade. The cost of vehicle theft has reached an estimated £1.77 billion annually, including increased insurance premiums and economic losses (source).

What’s behind this surge in stolen vehicles? In a nutshell – technology. Over the past five years or so, the prevalence of connectivity and software-driven features has exposed security flaws that are being exploited by tech-savvy thieves to steal a car in a matter of seconds (without breaking a window!). Once stolen, it can take as little as 12 hours for an SUV or popular model to find its way to a shipping container headed for the Persian Gulf or Africa.

In Europe, the countries with the highest theft rates per capita are France, Italy and Greece (see table). The UK also has a large absolute number of thefts owing to its size, although the per capita rates are lower than the leading hotspots in Europe. It’s also worth noting that even smaller countries like Luxembourg show very high theft rates per capita.

Rank	Country	Thefts per 100k (approx.)	Estimated thefts per day
1	France	248	451
2	Greece	228	63
3	Italy	227	369
4	Sweden	206	60
5	Luxembourg	162	3
6	Netherlands	156	78
7	United Kingdom	142	268

Source: (Aviation.Direct, BalkanView)

Statistics also show that certain models are more susceptible to theft than others due to a number of factors. In France, for example, the highest risk models correspond to the most common models on the road (chanoine.fr). However, this is not necessarily the case in other countries. With respect to cyber theft, ease of exploitation is another critical factor. Models that lack advanced electronic cybersecurity are vulnerable to relay attacks, OBD hacks, and other sophisticated theft methods. Black market-related factors, such as high-demand spare parts or high export value in African or Eastern European destinations, also contribute to higher risk for certain models.

In terms of regional trends, cyber theft (e.g., relay attacks, OBD, CAN injection) is more prevalent in Western and Northern Europe markets. In parallel, traditional techniques (i.e., window smashing, lock picking, and towing) and parts stripping are still common in Southern Europe (Italy, Greece), particularly for older models without immobilizers.

The Evolving Nature of Keyless Car Theft

Car theft has been around as long as automobiles themselves. From car alarms to immobilisers and smart key fobs, the automotive industry has always been in a cat-and-mouse game with car thieves. As vehicle and security technologies continue to advance, we can expect this battle of wits to persist. OEMs will continue to detect and patch software vulnerabilities that could lead to vehicle theft, while financially-motivated thieves will continue to find new ways to circumvent the latest security measures. 

One of the biggest security challenges facing the automotive cyber security industry today is preventing cyber car theft. This is due to the proliferation of keyless technology and other smart connected vehicle systems that expose cars to greater cybersecurity risks. The ease with which cyber thieves can exploit vulnerabilities in modern vehicles – often using electronic hacking devices acquired on the dark web – has created a huge problem for car owners, OEMs,  insurance companies, and fleet operators.

Among the most common cyber theft techniques in Europe are CAN bus injections, OBD port hacks and keyless entry hacking (relay attacks). CAN injection attacks are increasingly common in France, the Netherlands, the UK and Sweden. Using this technique, thieves access the vehicle’s headlights or bumpers, plug in a small device to the CAN bus wiring, and send a “start engine” signal. This allows them to bypass both the key fob and immobiliser in less than 30 seconds.

OBD Port Hacking (aka Electronic Reprogramming) is a widespread theft technique in Italy, France, and the UK. Thieves break into the car, connect a device to the On-Board Diagnostics (OBD-II) port, and reprogram a blank key. This method requires only a few minutes and is commonly used on delivery vans and rental cars.

Relay attacks date back to the advent of passive keyless entry systems around 2010. Unlike the previous two techniques that target the vehicle network, relay attacks intercept the key fob signal using two devices. The first device captures the signal from the car owner’s key fob (even through walls), while the second transmits it to the car, tricking it into unlocking and starting the engine. This technique is most prevalent today across Western Europe (France, UK, Netherlands, Italy) and often targets luxury brands.

All of these advanced theft techniques enable thieves to gain easy entry without causing damage to the vehicle, making such thefts difficult to detect through traditional means. This results in significant customer dissatisfaction and potential damage to brand trust and reputation.

PlaxidityX vDome Helps OEMs Combat Keyless Car Theft

vDome is an AI-powered, anti-theft software solution that protects vehicles from cyber car theft techniques such as CAN injection, key fob replication and other unauthorised manipulations of vehicle security measures. Powered by patented technology and automotive cyber expertise, vDome prevents cyber theft attempts in real time, while maintaining high accuracy with virtually zero false positives. vDome delivers enriched insights into the attack (e.g., identifying the specific tool or method used) and immediately triggers a targeted prevention action to prevent the vehicle from being stolen.

While many OEMs offer connected services used for tracking and recovery of stolen vehicles, they do not offer theft prevention services. vDome is the first and only product of its kind on the market specifically designed to protect vehicles already on the road against cyber car theft by enabling theft prevention, rather than trying to recover the stolen vehicle after the fact.

vDome’s Patented, AI-powered Defence Approach

Based on PlaxidityX’s in-depth understanding of automotive architectures, protocols, and standards and cybersecurity expertise, vDome employs a layered, multi-faceted approach to enable comprehensive, lifetime theft prevention.

1. Detect: vDome actively detects vehicle theft attempts in real-time, including unauthorised vehicle network manipulation (like CAN injection) and unauthorised key fob registration (like key cloning). Accurate threat detection is based on attack signatures for a wide variety of known attack vectors.

2. Prevent: Upon detection, vDome immediately triggers and prevents the theft action in real-time. vDome connects to the CAN bus, monitors traffic in real-time, detects the attack, and prevents the theft by disabling the fake message transmission. This detection and prevention occur within a single CAN message time frame (200 milliseconds or less), crucial for stopping fast-acting cyber-attacks.

3. Adaptive Shield: The vDome software is continuously updated (OTA or other means) to detect and defend against new attack vectors and emerging threats, ensuring ongoing protection. This future-proof approach is critical for vehicles that typically remain on the road for 10-15 years. Threat intelligence features automatic in-vehicle collection and analysis of real-world threats from diverse sources.

Neutralizing Modern Theft Methods in Europe

vDome’s unique capabilities are ideally suited to protect high-risk vehicle models in France, Italy, the UK, and beyond from the surge in Keyless car theft. vDome is explicitly designed to detect and prevent sophisticated methods, such as CAN bus injection and key fob replication, which allow thieves to bypass immobilisers, electronic locks and alarm systems. These capabilities, which revolutionize the way vehicles are protected against keyless car theft, were recognized at the recent CLEPA Innovation Awards, where PlaxidityX was selected as the Top SME Innovator in the Digital category for the vDome anti-theft technology.

vDome raises the security bar for popular models that rely on outdated tech and may lack modern anti-theft systems. As an aftermarket anti-theft solution, vDome provides a crucial retrofit option, significantly reducing vehicle vulnerability for cars already on the road with minimal hardware changes.

Theft Protection as a Service

Theft prevention represents a substantial revenue opportunity for OEMs and service providers. Given the increased demand for theft protection across Europe (and elsewhere), vDome can empower OEMs to offer car theft prevention services to customers as a premium monthly service, thus turning what was previously considered an expense into a revenue-generating feature.

One such example is PlaxidityX’s recent partnership with Vodafone Automotive, one of the world’s leading providers of safety and security vehicle solutions. This collaboration addresses the rapidly growing surge of keyless, cyber-powered car theft by integrating vDome’s advanced anti-theft capabilities with Vodafone Automotive’s advanced anti-theft and after-theft management solutions. The joint solution is expected to secure an estimated 200K subscribers against sophisticated threats, as well as restoring peace of mind and a safe travel experience for car owners.

The Future of Vehicle Security

Car theft in Europe is at a crisis point, characterized by sharp increases in both volume and sophistication. Countering the emergence of new cyber-powered theft techniques is a complex challenge that dictates proactive, adaptive, and intelligent prevention-based systems.

PlaxidityX vDome is a game-changer in the fight against keyless car theft in Europe and elsewhere. This next-generation, theft prevention solution marks a significant step forward in securing connected vehicles against the new wave of tech-driven automotive cybercrime.

Want to learn more about how vDome can help OEMs and service providers proactively prevent keyless car theft? Click here.