The Technology
At first glance, the Hyundai key looks like a standard USB drive. While it has the common form factor that many other vendors use to promote their product, the device is not used for data storage.
Instead, Hyundai has recruited the talents of Tenx Technologies Inc. to create a USB keyboard emulator that is automatically detected as a USB-based keyboard by the host operating systems. Once the OS recognizes the device as a keyboard and configures the port to receive "keystrokes," the chip on the USB key complies and sends a predefined set of keyboard strokes to the awaiting computer. Figure 2 shows us how OSX's USB Prober sees the device.
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Figure 2 USB Prober
The end result is that the computer opens an Internet browser and retrieves the Hyundai website content.
Based on testing, the USB key has the capability to detect which operating system the host system is running (Windows/OSX) and can alter the keystroke combination accordingly.
The following details the keys entered on each of the OS:
Windows:
Windows Key
Run dialog box (r)
CAP LOCK
http://www.welcomemyhyundai.com
CAP LOCK
Enter
OSX:
Apple menu
Down – Down (Selects software update item)
Enter (this opens the default browser to http://www.apple.com/downloads)
Cmd – l (places cursor in the address bar)
http://www.welcomemyhyundai.com
Enter
Figure 3 provides a shot of the key in its disassembled state. Note that the chip is coated with epoxy to prevent tampering/reverse-engineering.
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Figure 3 Hyundai key disassembled