I was wondering the same thing myself. The article made it seem like they just walk to a car, hit a few buttons on a magic box, their fob is now tied to the car, and the car door opens. There's got to be more to it than that.
I can see copying the key if you have the original fob, but then you have the original fob so why bother? Maybe people are doing the simple credit card swipe bit that nefarious retail people have been doing for a while now? I suppose we should stop handing over fobs to valet parking?
If it is as simple as the key being tied to the VIN then we can all just put electrical tape on our car's VIN. I have plenty to spare if someone wants some, I only used a small bit from a new roll to cover the front-facing camera on my laptop.
Many (most) keyless cars don't have an ignition fallback (well, a contact fallback where the fob is inserted into a slot rather than relying on wireless signal is common, but that still requires the fob); most that I've seen have an entry fallback with a mechanical key that is normally kept in the fob.
They usual "valet keys" I've seen are for keyed ignition cars where the valet key works the ignition but not the glovebox lock.
The fob for my car has a valet key of sorts. It's so I can lock the compartments inside the car. I hand over the fob and keep the key. They may easily take the car, but dang if they'll have to work at getting that glove compartment open.
I can see copying the key if you have the original fob, but then you have the original fob so why bother? Maybe people are doing the simple credit card swipe bit that nefarious retail people have been doing for a while now? I suppose we should stop handing over fobs to valet parking?
If it is as simple as the key being tied to the VIN then we can all just put electrical tape on our car's VIN. I have plenty to spare if someone wants some, I only used a small bit from a new roll to cover the front-facing camera on my laptop.