"The State Department asserts that hackers won't find any practical use for data skimmed from RFID chips embedded in the cards"

Of course they will.

Also why do we need RFIDs in our IDs anyway? What are they putting in the chips that can't be put in a magnetic strip on the card?

it is theoretically possible to 'skim' RFID data while standing on a train for the morning commute. put the rig in your laptop bag, stand next to someone who looks like they work in an office and stand next to them for a while. Do this a couple times a week (on the ride in and the ride out. Then spend the next week cracking the data to see what you've picked up.

Weaver95: it is theoretically possible to 'skim' RFID data while standing on a train for the morning commute. put the rig in your laptop bag, stand next to someone who looks like they work in an office and stand next to them for a while. Do this a couple times a week (on the ride in and the ride out. Then spend the next week cracking the data to see what you've picked up.

Just so you folks don't confused, I posted this after Weaver95 walked past me on the street and I got his SIN, passport data and driver's license off stuff being beamed from his wallet, then cracked his Fark password through some reverse engineering.

I'm about to hash his password and put it on UseNet - just after I send an email to Drew claiming that imposters keep trying to steal his login and they've already breached his email, so under no circumstances must Fark authorities ever reset it just because a fake named Weaver asked - so rest assured, if you ever see him post again, it's another imposter.

There's been more than a few discussions and demonstrations about how easy it is to crack RFID data. most of it isn't even encrypted, just obscure. According to a quick and dirty eBay search, an RFID read/write device is easily available for somewhere around $50-200. The more expensive the rig, the better the range. USB powered too, so you could run it off your laptop without any problems.

If we're going to start putting sensitive data on RFID chips, then we should encrypt it.

From here:

Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with this objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car.

It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker's gold.

Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians' electronic U.S. passport cards embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags. Within an hour, he'd "skimmed" the identifiers of four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet.

Paget's February experiment demonstrated something privacy advocates had feared for years: That RFID, coupled with other technologies, could make people trackable without their knowledge or consent.

He filmed his drive-by heist, and soon his video went viral on the Web, intensifying a debate over a push by government, federal and state, to put tracking technologies in identity documents and over their potential to erode privacy.

So...if the US and State governments are concerned about the security of the RFID tags in these new passports, um, maybe we SHOULDN'T BE FARKING HAVING THEM??

MIguy: I have one in my new drivers license and the CIA is tracking my every move 0_o

Seriously, I am against chipping anything. If I could reasonably I would go cash only.

If you have an Enhanced Drivers License, a US passport booklet issued in the past 3 years or a US Passport card, you have an RFID document.

If you have a Mastercard with "PayPass", a Visa card with "PayWave" or an American Express card with "ExpressPay", you have an RFID enabled credit card.

It is well worth it to get a RFID blocking wallet.

/$19.99 at ThinkGeek
//You can also get a RFID experimentation kit for $99.99

Clock Spider Jerusalem: Can we just microwave them?

That is also supposed to work, 20 seconds according to some people.

RFID are also found in smart cards (office security), certain credit cards, some newer drivers licenses, and those stupid tags they put in your clothes to deter shoplifters.

I have a RFID sheath for my passport - they started putting the RFID chips in US passports in 2008. You can buy them, and you can also buy RFID-proof wallets online. Magellan's has them (online travel gear store). Or you can make one out of foil and duct tape, if you like that look.

"The State Department asserts that hackers won't find any practical use for data skimmed from RFID chips embedded in the cards"

How about a bomb that only explodes when a certain number of people whose passports match the targeted country come into range? You could set it up months in advance and forget about it.

What's the point of RFID supposed to be? Contactless scanning? My license has a 2D bar code that works without contact and can't be read while the card is in my wallet.

It ought to be easy to add a button and make RFID not work if the button isn't pressed to close a circuit. The circuit can be sealed in plastic. It doesn't even need to be a conventional button. Something that changes electrical properties when compressed would do.

They can find us from satellites with this. It's very simple technology, actually. Here's how it wo

Haha, jus kidding. What is RFID?