A demonstration given at the 2008 Black Hat Conference and geek fest should give us pause and reason to consider the possible or probable misuse of the new smart chip enabled credit cards.
A volunteer called from the audience was told to leave his smart card inside of his wallet. With the card “safely” inside the volunteer’s wallet and pants pocket, Inventor and RFID security expert Adam Laurie read and displayed its contents on the presentation screen, the person’s name, account number, and expiration date – all clearly visible!
He was demonstrating his Python script designed for this and countless purposes.
Consider the possibilities. Criminals will lose touch with old scam methods and only require a bit of technology.
A thief can capture the contents of an RFID-enabled credit card just in passing.
The same is true for chips implanted in the human body, work access badges, public transit cards, and the new passports in use in more than 45 countries. The medical community has long been interested in implanting information in our bodies, right or wrong. I’ll admit it has been a boon for animal identification…but that’s as far as Auntie Technology is willing to go.
With astounding irony, credit card companies seem to be some of the biggest advocates of this technology. The companies argue that it will save time when processing payments with the RFID enabled cards.
An amazing display of how things can go wrong can be found on Spanish beaches. Visitors are encouraged to have RFID enabled tags injected into their bodies. The alleged benefit to you being you don’t need to take your wallet to the beach, and merchants can scan your wrist to get a unique ID from which to debit your account for another drink.
Of course, someone with the technology to read it can also stroll along the beach and capture it.
Lastly, proud inventor Laurie demonstrated how his personal code could be changed, then turned himself into a canine by changing his personal info into a coding sequence reserved for animals.
Am I the only one who wonders if it wouldn’t it be just as easy to change it to that of another person?
Best news for last! Anyone may obtain the Python scripts free of charge on Laurie’s website. He also sells the hardware necessary to read and write to RFID tags and cards.
Tis an ill wind which blows no good. Hal Lindsay and other doomsday writers will finally have reason to renew their wait for the Rapture and count their money, now that the “mark of the beast” is here “Without which, nothing may be bought or sold! “ BOO! Hands – Free Way to Steal a Credit Card and More