Slashdot Mirror

← Back to Stories (view on slashdot.org)

RFID Passports Cloned Without Opening the Package

Posted by ScuttleMonkey on from the step-one-cut-a-hole-in-a-box dept.

Jeremy writes to tell us that using some simple deduction, a security consultant discovered how to clone a passport as it's being mailed to its recipient, without ever opening the package. "But the key in this first generation of biometric passport is relatively easy to identify/crack. It is not random, but consists of passport number, the passport holder's date of birth and the passport expiry date. The Mail found it relatively easy to identify the holder's date of birth, while the expiry date is 10 years from the issue date, which for a newly-delivered passport would clearly fall within a few days. The passport number consists of a number of predictable elements, including an identifier for the issuing office, so effectively a significant part of the key can be reconstructed from the envelope and its address label."

7 of 168 comments (clear)

  1. Ohhh by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    10 seconds in the microwave sounds about right!

    1. Re:Ohhh by mdm-adph · · Score: 3, Funny

      I've heard smashing it with a hammer works just as well, and it doesn't invalidate the passport. Someone correct me if I'm wrong about this!

      --
      It is by my will alone my thoughts acquire motion; it is by the juice of the coffee bean that the thoughts acquire speed
    2. Re:Ohhh by db32 · · Score: 3, Funny

      Temporal hammer? You would have to smash it before you get it.

      --
      The only change I can believe in is what I find in my couch cushions.
    3. Re:Ohhh by Clazzy · · Score: 5, Funny

      I can see it now, get an RFID-enabled passport and get a tin foil hat for free!

      --
      If we can hit that bull's-eye, the rest of the dominoes will fall like a house of cards... Checkmate.
  2. Re:Embedded Linux is a major security risk by Lumpy · · Score: 4, Funny

    Wow! I did not know that there were any oblivious morons left in the wild.
    What number is on your ear tag? OH! are you one of the rare untagged morons? Where is my camera! National Geographic is gonna pay for a photo of a untagged wild moron!

    hey, come back! this camera won't steal your soul....... dammit.

    --
    Do not look at laser with remaining good eye.
  3. RFID by mypalmike · · Score: 4, Funny

    RFID = Ready For Immediate Duplication?

    --
    There are 0x40000000 types of people: those who understand 32-bit IEEE 754 floating point, and those who don't.
  4. Re:Same old Daily Mail by Rob+the+Bold · · Score: 2, Funny

    And shouldn't they have? Immigration is Britains #1 problem.

    You seem to be forgetting national dental care, the horrible rise of drug abuse, particularly among the working class and the minorities, the removal of troops from Northern Ireland, the parking situation in Benchley, and preventing Liam Gallagher from leaving Oasis.

    --
    I am not a crackpot.