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RFID Injection Required for Datacenter Access
user24 writes "Security focus reports that RFID injections are now required for access to the datacenter of a Cincinnati company. From the article 'In the past, employees accessed the room with an RFID tag which hung from their keychains, however under the new regulations an implantable, glass encapsulated RFID tag from VeriChip must be injected into the bicep to gain access ... although the company does not require the microchips be implanted to maintain employment.'"
...and the Comrades marched rank and file into their working facility, while the Big Brother telescreen carefully scanned each implanted chip...
Is this the first time civilians have been required to do thing type of thing? I guess its no longer science fiction.
And then there is the whole magic marker circumvention method that is soon to be discovered (possibly within this thread).
Oh wait...
FTA: Ironically, the extra security sought may be offset by a recent discovery of Jonathan Westhues, where the security researcher showed the VeriChip can be skimmed and cloned, duplicating an implant's authentication.
Yeah... I can't wait for the Diebold spin on this story.
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Aw, hell no.
At least, it doesn't need to be cut out to be used by a sufficiently motivated attacker.
Mmmm-hmmm...
They won't require you to implant the chip to keep your job. But how long can you keep your job if you can't access the datacenter?
...Also, I didn't know Buggalo could fly.
Isn't this what the Christians have been saying was going to happen for the past 20 years now? Of course, it's not the governing that's forcing the chips on people, but it's only a matter of time.
It might actually double the victim's bicep circumference.
But now they want to chip us like dogs too?
What's next, kibble in the break room vending machines?
I'm not understanding the point here. If you inject the RFID chip, you can theoretically track your users wherever they go. But you can't ensure that access isn't being granted to someone who has an RFID chip in their wallet. You are making it slightly harder to steal the data, but you're not making it any harder to clone the chip.
What's the security benefit to injected RFID?
BTW, this is the original article.
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Could someone object on the basis of religious discrimination if they believe that RFID implants constitute the "Mark of the Beast"?
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So much for Evil Guy yanking out an eye or cutting off a hand so that he can fake access. Now he has to take the whole arm...
Seriously, if he wants in that bad I'd rather he just beat me up and take my keys.
Moderating "-1, Disagree" is simple censorship. Have the guts to post your opinion.
If not, you're likely to be tracked not just by your employer but by anyone else with an RFID scanner. There really ought to be an activator button or device that needs to be pressed or broadcasting to make such a device safe for the implanted.
This will only last about as long as the Sony rootkit-like DRM lasted. It now has public attention, and when it is pointed out that the scheme has enough security holes in it to act as a noodle strainer, the number of people who will actually allow the implant will be zero, meaning there will be no one to do any maintenance in the datacenter, and thus the rules will have to be changed.
For less than they paid for the RFID system, they could have hired someone to log people in and out of the data center. Additionally, I question the validity of a system that restricts access to only those with an implant during disaster situations (fire, flood, and worse) where access rights and needs are rather different than in normal situations.
Good security costs a lot of money, and you cannot replace the human element in the security chain. The RFID schemes won't prevent anyone following an authorized person into the data center, unless there is physical restrictions that would make working in the data center dangerous during emergencies. In this case, the $10/hour guard is more flexible and cheaper than the high-tech answer, and more respectful of humans in general... or at least I think so
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To me this sounds more like a marketing ploy. So that they could go to potential clients and say, "Look we are so secure and futuristic that we need embedded chips in humans to access our critical datacenter!". Client is left stunned.
IANA American, but I hope that the goverment would do something if this was forced on the employees working in the datacenter. After all, what can this achieve which cannot be done with a retinal scan, RFID tag combo? If the criminal can pass the retinal scan, can't he also pluck the RFID from the employee and stick into his arm?
Huh..... I would hate it if someone said they are gonna put a chip inside my body. Wait till someone gets hurt and the company gets sued for a million dollars.
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The joke's on them. Geeks don't HAVE biceps.
" must be injected into the bicep"
I think most slashdotters will have a problem there.
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And anyone who requires access to the datacenter to do their job, such as operators and sysadmins, cannot DO their job unless they get the implant. And if they cannot do the job, how are they expected to maintain employment?
I suppose the official reason for termination would be "uncooperative attitude." Certainly not "he refused to get chipped." Or maybe the company will concentrate on ways to make the employee so miserable, he just quits. Problem solved.
They say the first thing to go is your penis. Well, it's either that or your brain. I forget which...
showed the VeriChip can be skimmed and cloned, duplicating an implant's authentication.
To say nothing of employee's arms being taken and used to gain access. Just need to have a large plastic bags to put the body part in to keep it from leaking all over the hacker. Gives a whole new meaning to the term hacker.
I wonder if these are the same implants they use on dogs. If they are it's no wonder they are insecure. And I don't see how this improves security much if any. It would be better to have a two man rule enforced by the access system, using two factor authentication, and have cameras monitoring the access into the cages. Securing a data center is not that difficult. It can be costly.
One last thought, what does the company do if those implanted leave or are fired? Pay out the insurance premium for dismemberment when they remove the arm of the employee? I guess you know you are being fired when the security guard shows up at your desk with a box for your stuff and a hacksaw to revoke your access.
It now has public attention
I don't think we can call this public attention. Seriously, if our attention actually mattered in changing any policy, don't you think Microsoft would have been extinct by now and that DRM and other things like [insert what Slashdot users think is evil here] would be under public scrutiny? The cliched Joe Sixpack will probably never hear of this; heck, I don't think Joe Sixpack knows what RFID is.
That was supposed to read, FTA: Ironically, the extra security sought may be offset by a recent discovery of Captain Obvious, where the security researcher showed the VeriChip can be skimmed and cloned, duplicating an implant's authentication.
Seriously, which genius thought putting a remotely readable barcode in an employees arm was ever going to be secure? Must the IT world really repeat the mistakes of the 80's garage door opener industry??
Forget thrust, drag, lift and weight. Airplanes fly because of money.
We all know that this won't increase security, but now this surveillance company can use this in all their advertising and PR. "Sure, you can go with the other company but they arent half as serious as we are. We put bloody implants into our employess! That's serious!"
Its harmless except for Joe and Jane Datacenter who have to go in for some minor surgery on the weekend to keep their jobs. I hope this "Golden Casino" mentality stops right here after these people get exposed for the dumbasses that they are. Hell, even in the article they did not know the weaknesses of RFID authentication.
I woulndt doubt if this was 100% publicity stunt. I wonder how many people even have to access the datacenter. Depending on the company size it could just be one or two people. Of course all the executives, security, etc will have the old keycards that will work just fine.
It does not surprise me at all that this is in Cincinnati, which has a horrible anti-worker culture. Employees are considered far less valuable than office fixtures, pay is below the national average in all industries, and flexible time is a foreign concept. Most employers there resent the emancipation proclaimation. Without it, they wouldn't have to pay the drones at all. This attitude has even spilled over to the sports teams, who have lost a lot more often than they have won over the years due to skinflint ownership.
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Okay, but what's the metric here? "Unsafeness?" How "unsafe" is getting an RFID implant? Is it then safe to assume that if something was sufficiently risk-free, that a potential employer could get away with making the employee submit to their wishes? How far might that go? And most importantly, who's deciding what's unsafe, and where's their money come from?
I don't think the CIA is going to want thier agents permanantly broacasting a message that says 'hey I work for the CIA' to anybody that has the desire and technology to listen.
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And anyone who requires access to the datacenter to do their job, such as operators and sysadmins, cannot DO their job unless they get the implant. And if they cannot do the job, how are they expected to maintain employment?
They have no problem to do their job without physical access, they installed telnet on all the servers.
Ironically, the extra security sought may be offset by a recent discovery of Jonathan Westhues, where the security researcher showed the VeriChip can be skimmed and cloned, duplicating an implant's authentication. When contacted, those at CityWatcher were unaware of the chip's security issue, according to the spychips.com release.
So before I needed to get close to an object (whatever had the rfid tag) which under normal circumstances an employee would not be carried around (say they were going home or something) or could have it in a reader blocking case. Now, I simply need to get close to an employ anywhere at any time to copy their data.
Fucking brilliant, now I can steal their tag without anyone ever knowing, whereas before they'd know it was gone in a reasonable amount of time (I'd have to steal the physical object most likely).
It's a video surveillance company. You work in the data center, you become Big Brother.
Many years ago I found myself in a turf war with the 'operators' who looked after our mainframe .... in their view system programmers weren't allowed to touch the hardware ... anyway as a response we instituted a physical penetration analysis of the machine room .... the number of different ways in we found was in the mid teens - some involved children (or small adults) climbing thru ducts or thru the windows we gave people their printouts through, others involved finding ways in under the false floor (there were several) - but the one that took the cake was when we noticed that all the hinges on each and every door to the room was on the outside ... anyone could show up at any time and steal the doors
Now people are required to inject glass capsules into their arms to enter a facility?
Now we know asbestos kills.
What will be said of placing RFID tags into our bodies 50 years from now.
Some risks are worth taking, there is no question. For me, this is not one of them.
Obviously don't want geeks. No self respecting geek would have biceps!
Engineering is the art of compromise.
Taking the "frog in water" tack a step further, let's assume that the RFID chip is currently the same size as the one I just put in my dog. (About the size of a grain of rice, they tell me.) This is probably far too large/intrusive to put in the hand(for Revelations to come to fruition). With the advent on nanotechnology, there is no doubt that these can be made not only smaller in the future, but they also can be made of a 'non-rejectable' material so that the body wouldn't force it out thru the skin. Now let's take it out of the bicep, which has relatively little range of movement. If it were restricted to the upper arm, the reader/receiver would have to be at a certain height, relative to the "average" bicep height. This wouldn't last for long. It needs to be given a more full range of motion, so that employers/sellers/buyers/governments could put the receiver anywhere. What's a place on the body with a great range of motion, could reach either side of a door, capable of going high/low/everywhere? The hand, you say? What a novel concept! This is not a great leap to tie the necessity of having a chip implanted for work to requiring permanent identification for the conduct of everyday life, and as a side note, coming close enough to a 2000 year old prophecy(that I believe, BTW) to allow 'him who has understanding' to 'reckon'.
Paranoid? Not until you do all of your computing inside a Faraday cage. Until then, you're just a TEMPEST in a teapot.
Carthago delenda est!
I went to their web site and many time they repeat the word "secure". Now granted this could be marketing bunk destined to pointy haired boss, but a passive RFID tag without private key cannot be qualified as secure even remotely. So I will stand on a leg and state that the GP is wrong and the Parent post is right, you cannot so easily copy the tag.
p eople purport is short. For me 1 foot is short. With 5 meters/15 feet readability, then you can REALLY immagine implementing a reader everywhere and fully track a population (in a firm/company/city/country).
Veri Chip
Veri Guard Brochure
What is quite frightening is that they purport on site tracking up to 15 foot (5 meter!). This is WAAAY beyond the distance the RFID-CHip-are-ok-sleep-safely-it-won't-be-abused-
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Is this the first time civilians have been required to do thing type of thing?
This may not be exactly the same thing, but it's somewhat of a precedent: A few years ago, after a mammogram, my wife had a biopsy to check out something "suspicious". It turned out to be nothing important, though.
Some time later, she had another x-ray at a different place, and she saw that the image had a visible object at the site of the biopsy. She was told that it was a small piece of plastic left behind during the biopsy procedure, and that this was a fairly common thing. Sort of a "We were here" tag.
Whether it's an RFID chip we don't know. But at least some medical people are already implanting small "innocuous" things without mentioning it to the patient. And there have been stories of medical uses of RFID chips to help avoid the common problem of misidentifying a patient.
It's easy to put such things together. If you've had any "penetrative" medical work done in the past few years, there's a good chance that you're carrying an RFID chip now.
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