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So.......Maybe I don't want an RFID Credit Card


Danny caddyshack Noonan

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Danny caddyshack Noonan

Radio Frequency I.D. on your card.

The commercials make it appear almost unrealistically easy. Pass your card near the reader and, you've paid and go on your way.

 

Here's the downside. Doesn't look like an urban legend.

How to steal RFID card data

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Joe Frickin' Friday

It’s worth noting that if your credit card has to be physically swiped through a machine in order to have its magnetic stripe read, then it’s not vulnerable to this kind of attack; the only cards that are vulnerable are the non-contact credit/debit cards that let you pay by just waving them in front of a card reader. (Note that the bar-coded cards that are often given out by grocery stores and video rental places - typically read by an optical/laser scanner - are NOT vulnerable to this kind of attack, either.)

 

So far none of my credit cards have this feature, but of course that could change if I got a new card.

 

The WREG TV station that made that video is pretty proud of how it’s gone viral on the internet. however, it’s also worth noting (from that article) that so far there have been no reported instances of credit card fraud being conducted in the manner described (although how would you ever know that that’s what happened to you???).

 

More info here:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wireless_identity_theft

 

The credit card industry is claiming that there’s no problem these days, but of course they’re not the only entity that’s making use of RFID technology. Passports and some driver licenses are being issued with embedded RFID’s, and lots of workplace access cards (my own included) use them too. If this kind of identity theft becomes commonplace and RFID-card issuers don’t come up with robust countermeasures, we may see foil-lined wallets and purses becoming de rigeur…

 

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What I don't like, besides this, is the use of RFID in products that may be used to trace your purchases, movements and whereabouts.

 

I presume you know that this is already done with credit, debit, and courtesy cards.

 

A real estate agent I used to work with, he dealt in higher-end properties, used to buy customer purchase lists from local super markets - they are based on use of courtesy cards, of course.

 

He culled the lists to see who was buying $25+ bottles of wine and figured they made a good target audience for his advertising.

 

Pilgrim

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What I don't like, besides this, is the use of RFID in products that may be used to trace your purchases, movements and whereabouts.

 

I presume you know that this is already done with credit, debit, and courtesy cards.

 

A real estate agent I used to work with, he dealt in higher-end properties, used to buy customer purchase lists from local super markets - they are based on use of courtesy cards, of course.

 

He culled the lists to see who was buying $25+ bottles of wine and figured they made a good target audience for his advertising.

 

Pilgrim

 

I don't have any supermarket extortion (courtesy in Orwellian terms) cards. I do have a Costco card, but they claim not to sell your data.

 

The RFID issue is a huge step beyond credit cards, extortion cards and such. Those only track when you make a purchase.

 

That little inventory control rfid can track every time you move past a control point, for life. They are showing up in all manner of products, including clothes, purses, wallets, etc.

 

The fear is, and no I doubt it's happening yet, that large databases of these rfids will become personally traceable and can be used to monitor movements.

 

This is a level beyond cards, beyond phones (which can be turned off after all), etc.

 

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The fear is, and no I doubt it's happening yet, that large databases of these rfids will become personally traceable and can be used to monitor movements.
For what purpose?
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The fear is, and no I doubt it's happening yet, that large databases of these rfids will become personally traceable and can be used to monitor movements.
For what purpose?

 

It will do away with the need for radar. You'll get a speeding ticket on your Facebook page.

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The fear is, and no I doubt it's happening yet, that large databases of these rfids will become personally traceable and can be used to monitor movements.
For what purpose?

 

To track terrorists?

 

Just think what a field day J Edgar Hoover could have had with this technology.

 

Or Nixon?

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Danny caddyshack Noonan
Just think what a field day J Edgar Hoover could have had with this technology.

 

+1 to that. It would have been so easy for him to go buy womens underwear and lingerie. :rofl: None of that writing checks, making change for cash.

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For those of us that have NEXUS cards for crossing the US/Canada border, it has an embedded RFID chip and comes with a metal lined sleeve. That sleeve limits the effective "range" of the RFID and would seem a simple security measure.

 

Now, if they could just improve security on credit and debit card keypads to say a touch sensitive screen with a randomized presentation of the keypad numbers with each transaction. Just as good a hope as the iris scanner at the border crossing - my wandering "lazy eye" leaves me trying for about a minute to get a good scan.

 

Mike Cassidy

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This kind of corporate stupid with the cards reminds me of when our security officer spend a bundle on new cards and readers for our work place. Turned out we all made photocopys of our card and they worked as well as the issued version.

So sophisticated it ain't worth a dang.

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