Researchers at Rutgers University and the University of South Carolina are warning that unencrypted wireless communications from tire pressure monitors in new cars can be intercepted by third parties.

"The tire pressure monitoring systems (TPMS) consist of battery-powered radio frequency identification (RFID) tags on each tire, which can respond with the air pressure readings of the tire when wirelessly queried by an electronic control unit (ECU)," writes Computerworld's Joab Jackson.

"The researchers had found that each sensor has a unique 32-bit ID and that communication between the tag and the control unit was unencrypted, meaning it could be intercepted by third parties from as far away as 130 feet," Jackson writes.

Click here to read the Computerworld article.