RFID Feared as Possible Terrorist Target

[babylonsister]

And these chips are going into passports for what reason? Is this another botched security attempt by this admin? Did the powers-that-be who instituted these chips think it through, or is this another mind-numbing example of incompetence?

http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2108437,00.asp?kc=EWEWEMNL032707EP36D

RFID Feared as Possible Terrorist Target
By Lisa Vaas
March 27, 2007


As if RFID chips in driver's licenses and passports weren't scary enough already, London's Royal Academy of Engineering is suggesting that someday a terrorist will be able to read personal details from a distance and, given the right antennas and amplification, set a bomb to go off when a particular person gets within range.

It's already widely acknowledged that unencrypted data stored on an RFID chip in a passport can be read covertly by anybody with a pass-by reader.

As the ACLU pointed out at Black Hat earlier in March, you can buy parts on the Internet to make a reader for as little as $20.

With a reader, you can pick up whatever the RFID chip is sending out: passport number; name; where an individual was at, at what time; name; address; Social Security number, etc.

The ability of RFID to be subverted in far more dangerous ways was only one example of how advancing technology can be exploited in the future, according to the Royal Academy.

more...

[soothsayer]

1. I'm going to keep mine under a strong magnet.

[Seldona]

2. Does that work with RFID?

Hope so...

[AllegroRondo]

5. with the current ones, yes

they are foiled by magnetic fields close by. Its a big problem with electronic devices, like computers, laptops, or radios. A tag on or near something like that will not read correctly.

[Cirque du So-What]

3. A Faraday cage will effectively block all radio-frequency transmissions

Can RFID reading be jammed or otherwise obstructed?
Yes. A metal or foil-lined container that is impenetrable to radio-frequency waves is known as a Faraday cage. An RFID tag in a Faraday cage is effectively unreadable.

http://www.rsa.com/rsalabs/node.asp?id=2120

[Wilber_Stool]

4. What about stealing someones personal data

and programing you own chip. You could be anyone you want. An RFD reader doesn't know the chip is in your pocket. As long as it gets the signal, it doesn't care where the chip is.