Is RFID Really That Scary?

tcd004 writes "Defcon participant Chris Paget demonstrated his ability to capture RFID data from people hundreds of feet away for the PBS NewsHour. Paget went through the regular laundry list of security concerns over RFID: people can be tracked, their information accessed, their identities comprimised. Not so fast, says Mark Roberti of RFID Journal. Mark challenges Paget to point to a single instance where RFID was successfully used for nefarious purposes. The signals are too weak and the data is too obscure, according to Roberti. So who is right? Has RFID yet lead to a single instance of identity theft, illegal monitoring, or other security compromise?"

Comments

Re:Hmm

[MobileTatsu-NJG]

Dozens of RFID detectors that do broadcast GPS coordinates into space will be responsible for that part.

You mean the RFID's with huge batteries that need constant charging and aren't called "RFID"s anymore?

Re:Here's a better Defcon RFID story...

[Blakey Rat]

When the box got a return and found usable data, it snapped a picture.

Uh... so what?

Maybe the hotel they were staying at used RFID keys. Nothing here implies "if a RFID card has usable data, IT'S A SUPER-TOP-FEDERAL-CIA-SECRET-OMG!!!" He was just snapping photos of people with bus passes and hotel keys... retarded.