Breaking a Hitag2 Protocol with Low Cost Technology

Hitag2 is an encryption algorithm designed by NXP Semicondu ctors that is used in electronic vehicle immobilizers and anti-theft devices. Hitag2 uses 48-bit keys fo r authentication and confidentiality, and due to that feature it is considered an insecure cipher. In this contrib ution we present a comparison of low cost technologies able to break a known protocol based on this cipher in a re asonable amount of time. Building on top of these solutions, it is possible to create an environment abl e to obtain Hitag2 keys in almost negligible time. The procedure can be easily expanded in order to consider oth protocols based on the same cipher.