Ok, I know this is old, but US is moving to RFID passports Jan 1, I don’t
even own a hammer.
cb
from the feeling-safer? dept
There’s been an odd rush by governments to move to RFID
passports, even though there are serious
concerns about how secure they really are. Over in the UK, where many RFID
passports are already in use, a security researcher and a reporter were able to
crack some
aspects of the passport. It is, admittedly, a limited crack, but it could
potentially be used to make a clone RFID chip for a counterfeit passport. While
the UK government claims this crack is no big deal, you’d have to think that it
shouldn’t take long for other problems to show up as well. What seems pretty
clear from the description is that the implementation was done without all that
much thought given to the security side of the equation. We’re not as down on
RFIDs as some people are — but with all the questions about security and
privacy issues, you would think that officials would have been extra careful
before sticking them in something such as a passport. Apparently
not.