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WiFi "not to blame" as car park sufers from rogue transmitter, immobilising vehicles

Wireless car locks and alarms: a boon to motorists, especially in the rain! - but Gravesend drivers found themselves locked out of their vehicles when a "jamming" signal was broadcast.

The jammer, reports a BBC story, was assumed to be a local area network over wireless; and they also suspected several other wireless transmitters in the area, including one which sends car park data to a display showing empty spaces.

In the end, it turned out to be one of the cars in the car park sending intermittent signals, from its own locking system.

Security analyst Bruce Schneier rather mischievously called this a Denial-of-Service Attack Against Electronic Car Locks, in his blog. "It could" he pointed out "certainly be done on purpose."

In fact, jamming signals in car parks are not as unusual as this story may seem to imply. What was a bit unusual, was the strength of the transmission, which prevented cars from being locked or unlocked in  a 50m radius; and the fact that Ofcom was called.

Even more unusual, was the fact that Ofcom was able to trace the transmitter.

From the BBC report, it seems that they took stringent, drastic action: "A notice was placed on the car informing the owner - a commuter who left his vehicle there all day."