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MasterCard To Distribute RFID Credit Cards
wellington writes "Reuters is reporting that MasterCard expects to have 4 million "pay pass" cards in circulation by year's end. These new cards will be equipped with a radio-frequency chip that allows customers to pay for purchases by simply waving their cards at readers posted near cash registers or gas pumps." The cards, previously covered on Slashdot, were announced earlier this year.
The MasterCard system, like all of its type, uses the ISO/IEC 14443 contactless smartcard standard.
ISO 14443, unlike most RFID standards, is a cryptographically strong system that renders easedropping useless.
When you bring the card near the reader it induces a current in the card to power it (Passive RFID). This is why you need to put it close to the reader. Once this happens you can snoop the signal from the card from nearby.
Spreading FUD...u should all work for BILL!!!
These cards are based on SMARTCARDS and the EMV standards (3DES, PKI, challenge-auth techniques) against which millions of credit and debit cards have been issued. The only difference is that they use an RF interface to provide comms and power the chip.
See http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/ISO_14443/
They ARE NOT RFID tags, they do not emit your card number, banks (as other have correctly posted) are smart enough to NOT provide OTHER avenues of fraud.