RFID passports vulnerable to hackers, security expert says

[CHIMO]

Las Vegas — Electronic passports being introduced in the U.S. and other countries have a major vulnerability that could allow criminals to clone embedded secret code and enter countries illegally, an expert warned.

A demonstration by German computer security expert Lukas Grunwald showed how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device.

It appeared to contradict assurances by officials in government and private industry that the electronic information stored in passports could not be duplicated.

“If there is an automatic inspection system, I can use this card to enter any country,” Mr. Grunwald said, holding up a computer chip containing electronic information he had copied from his German passport.

http://www.theglobeandmail.com/servlet/story/RTGAM.20060806.welecpass0806/BNStory/Technology/home

[Solo_in_MD]

1. There are a number of cool items like that coming out of DEFCON

[GemMom]

2. RFID........

I'm not particularly fond of RFID tech in general, particularly when it's "hidden" in the tags of merchandise.

[zonkers]

8. booknotes had a guy on a year ago who pointed out that going digital

with national i.d. cards and such would create a more perfect climate for identity fraud. Can't recall the book but it was a great show.

[Mind_your_head]

3. Well, this just means that we MUST go to DNA identifiers

:eyes: :eyes: :eyes:

"Ve muust kontrol everyfing"!!!!

[kineneb]

4. I keep saying- if it is electronic, it can be hacked

just put the item in a room with several 17-year old script kiddies and they will figure it out within a day (or less). Or some bored 20-something will do it on their afternoon off. Short of an air-gap firewall (no contact with the outside world), there is no such thing as complete computer security. Shoot, if it is magneticly encoded, a strong magnet can do amazing things.

We had a friend who hacked a "Billy the Bigmouth Bass"...

[sakabatou]

5. What happened to the Bass?

[laheina]

6. Billy the Bigmouth Bass

aka the most annoying object *ever!*

What did the friend do to it?

[kineneb]

7. fun stuff

he recorded his girlfriend's voice on his computer, then worked out how to make Billy's mouth move in sync with the GF's voice - all to annoy one of their mutual friends...it was a long-running gag involving fish of all varieties: fish lights, fish pens, fish pillows, etc. Billy was a big hit, so to speak.

Yes, he is still a terminal geek (pun intended), and probably could hack RFID stuff rather quickly. Probably have the chip giving back James Bond's ID.