Passport Security Issues

This is old news for those reading Wired or Metafilter, but a group called Flexis has exposed a major security flaw with the new RFID chips that will be embedded in all U.S. passports at the end of 2006. RFID is a new technology that's exploding in usage. The chips are very cheap and very small, meaning that it's going to be increasingly used track things - both people and inventory. A reader sends a signal and the chip bounces back small packets of data - names, ID numbers, etc. The advanage is that somebody working at a warehouse would be able to press a single button to get an inventory readout for their section of the building. It also allows for closer tracking of people at airports or moving through toll booths on a highway.

The issue is that there is a major design is flaw in the passports. Terrorists or identity thieves are able to get readouts from passports not fully closed inside of pockets. The encrypted data is also easily cracked. The video below demonstrates how a security group rigged a bomb to go off when a someone with a U.S. passport walked by. Read the story here or here. .

It's depressing that these are the results we get with the money we spend on Homeland Security. Maybe I'll play the part of Citizen Blogger and uncover the open secrets of which hands were greased on the RFID project. These are things that put American travelers and expats - my coworkers and me - needlessly at risk so politicians can get campaign cash and bureaucrats get promotions. This is the absolutely ridiculous stuff going on today in Washington that any third rate intellectual could think through. New Orleans levees, "day after" plans for Iraq, encrypting and hiding data broadcasting out of a passport....






/ rant

Tags: Treyopia, China, Current Events, RFID, passport, security, travel