Slashdot Mirror
Hackers Clone E-Passport
mrops writes "I guess the skeptical Slashdot community always knew that e-passports are a big waste of time and money; now German security consultants have been able to successfully clone e-passports, even onto building access cards. FTA: 'The whole passport design is totally brain damaged,' Grunwald says. 'From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They're not increasing security at all.'"
While the headline sounds scary, when you examine it closer, this isn't really surprising. The ability to copy the passport is not the issue here. The key point of the technology was to have the issuing government digitally sign the information contained in the passport. This means that a forger cannot simply tip-ex out the name and and put in a new one ;-)
The article did not mention if the German passport contains bio-metric data. i.e. a digital copy of the photo.
This combined with a digital signature of the photo would make the system very secure indeed.
The passport inspector simply scans the data and compares the photo to the person standing before him.
I don't see how this "hack" compromises the security of the system, except in cases where the inspecting authority misuses or misunderstands the basis of security in the system.
There are only 10 types of people in the world. Those who understand binary and those who don't!
I believe that those anti-static bags that many computer boards come in will block an RFID signal. They certainly look exactly like the bag I was given with my RFID remote toll-paying tag, and putting the tag in the bag supposedly blocks it from being read.
/. for you! ;) )
(What, you don't have any old computer parts in their original anti-static bags?!? That's it, no
[command INSERTWITTYQUIP failed: insufficient wit]
Safe from surreptitious cloning? Big deal. You routinely hand over your passport at hotels, etc... while in Europe.
Do you think its hard to snag someones passport?
How about a pickpocket at the airport, they can even turn it in to the lost and found afterwards. Suddenly being John smith isnt that bad now...
and secondly, gee I really wonder if the people at the border are gonna be lazy and not bother to check but simply swipe it.... oh wait they are lazy and will do exactly that!
As for the need to steal a passport right now to do this...wait a week, im sure someone will figure out how to take this one step further.
The phrase "more better" is acceptable English. suck it grammar Nazis
Nope, the keys for my marina are RFID and I tested this very thing. The machine read the card as usual.
Say bad words about my book, in cold oatmeal, or I shall sue!
I think this will meet your needs: http://www.emvelope.com/products
The RFID chip is only the first step.
The current chip contains a scanned photo. Future passports will be issued with an ID card which means going to an enrolment centre to get your iris and finger prints scanned and entering all your details into the national identity register. The iris scan may or may not be included in the passport RFID chip and the fingerprints won't be at first.
The price of passports will go up from 51 pounds to 66 pounds in october (they were only 42 pounds last year!) to cover the costs and may rise again when ID card start being issued.
Anyone who wants to avoid the National Identity Register should join the renew for freedom campaign and renew their passport early. It is too late to avoid the biometric passport with RFID, but you will stay off of the NIR and will not have to provide fingerprints and iris scans in person. It will cost you 51 pounds but may well be worth it to avoid having to tell the Identity and Passport service every time you move house.
A latent existence