How Your Passport And Driver's License Can Be Hacked...

Posted by Queuebot in Crime & Law, Gadget, Science & Tech on February 3, 2009 at 1:00 am


… by someone driving by in a car, if those documents have RFID chips installed in them.

A fellow in San Francisco installed an RFID reader in his car, with an antenna, and connected it to his laptop on the front seat. He then drove around the city and was able to pick up the signals from passports and driver’s licenses and have the information downloaded to his computer. He could then upload the data to clone the passport.

The person doing this is one of the "good guys." He’s demonstrating for the world how insanely easy it is to steal information from an RFID chip, and he’s hoping to convince the public (or, more precisely, lawmakers) that RFID should not be used for personal identity tracking as the Department of Homeland Security wants to do.

There is a video at the Engadget link.





Link

From the Upcoming ueue, submitted by Minnesotastan.


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COMMENT

10 comments to "How Your Passport And Driver's License Can Be Hacked..."

  1. Alex
    February 3rd, 2009 at 1:00 am

    Wow, that's scary. Time to break out the emvelope!

  2. DOJ
    February 3rd, 2009 at 2:17 am

    I'm glad someone is working to publicize this

  3. Paul in Boca
    February 3rd, 2009 at 9:14 am

    DOJ,
    No offense, but posting this to a blog isn't exactly publicizing this. If we read about in in the NYT or the WSJ or see it talked about on FOX or NBC, then I would agree with you. But don't hold your breath waiting for that to happen.

  4. droof
    February 3rd, 2009 at 9:27 am

    thanks for this. I'm about to move overseas and had completely forgotten to put an RFID-blocking passport cover on my do list. great, now not only do i have to carry around this huge passport in my pocket all the time, I also get to carry it in a wallet, which I hate.

    stupid corrupt bureaucrats, do something right once in a while ever?

  5. Ajan
    February 3rd, 2009 at 10:25 am

    Gotta love this guy!! Hope MS doesn't take him towards the dark side

  6. renderanything
    February 3rd, 2009 at 11:01 am

    I now have the perfect excuse to build a Faraday cage around everything I own including my wallet.

  7. ligress
    February 3rd, 2009 at 11:49 am

    scary stuff!

  8. Lore
    February 3rd, 2009 at 12:24 pm

    It sucks that the public isn't being told about this and the government just wants the stupid chip on so they know where you're going. So many things can happen when the wrong person gets ahold of your information.

  9. gtstiggy
    February 3rd, 2009 at 7:16 pm

    Cough - Aluminum FOIL.

  10. DOJ
    February 4th, 2009 at 2:51 am

    @Paul in Boca - I was referring to the guy from the story, Chris Paget.


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