Key fobs and garage-door openers can be captured and replayed with a $170 gadget. Score your physical-security posture in 10 questions.
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Garage-Door / Key-Fob Security Checker
Key fobs and garage-door openers can be captured and replayed with a $170 gadget. Score your physical-security posture in 10 questions.
Modern garage-door openers and car key fobs use rolling codes, which sounds safe. But a Flipper Zero with custom firmware can capture a code, synthesize the next one, and open your garage or unlock your car days later. This 10-question check covers the practical defenses.
1. Is the door from your garage to your house dead-bolted from the inside (treated like a front door)?
Single most important fix. Even if attacker opens your garage, they cannot enter the house.
2. Is your garage-door opener less than 10 years old (post-2015 rolling-code with stronger encryption)?
Older fixed-code openers can be replayed with a $20 tool. Modern Security+ 2.0 (LiftMaster) and Intellicode (Genie) are much harder.
3. Have you removed the manual emergency-release cord (or cut its loop so it can't be pulled from outside through the top of the garage door)?
The emergency-release cord can be pulled with a coat hanger through the gap at the top of most garage doors, bypassing all electronics.
4. Do you have a wired security camera covering the garage area (not Wi-Fi only)?
Wired cameras keep recording when Wi-Fi is jammed. Wi-Fi cameras lose footage during attacks.
5. Do you keep your spare car key fob in a Faraday pouch (or in the freezer / microwave — they block RF)?
Relay attacks amplify the signal from your key fob inside the house out to your car in the driveway. Faraday-blocking the spare fob breaks this.
6. Have you disabled garage-opener buttons in your car (or programmed only the buttons you actually use)?
An attacker who steals your car for 5 minutes can copy your garage code from the visor button. Unused buttons should be cleared.
7. Does your car require the brake-pedal (not just key-presence) to enter ignition mode?
Some early push-to-start cars activate the ignition just from key presence. Brake-pedal requirement reduces relay-attack risk.
8. Is your home-security alarm sensor on the garage's interior door (the one to the house)?
The interior door is the actual breach point. Sensor here catches the attack that bypassed the garage door.
9. Have you tested re-pairing your garage opener and key fob in the last 12 months (so you know how to do it if needed)?
If you suspect compromise, re-pairing rolls all the codes. Knowing the procedure means you'll actually do it.
10. Is your home address NOT visible from the garage door (no mailbox number, house number, or family name)?
Capture-and-replay attackers drive through neighborhoods listening for fobs. Anonymous-looking garage = harder to target back later.