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Germany To Roll Out ID Cards With Embedded RFID

Posted by Soulskill on from the meine-Brieftasche-ist-radioaktiv dept.

An anonymous reader writes "The production of RFID chips, an integral element of the new generation of German identity cards, has started after the government gave a 10-year contract to the chipmaker NXP in the Netherlands. Citizens will receive the mandatory new ID cards starting from the first of November. The new card allows German authorities to identify people with speed and accuracy, the government said. These authorities include the police, customs and tax authorities and of course the local registration and passport granting authorities. There are some concerns that the use of RFID chips will pose a security or privacy risk, however. Early versions of the electronic passports, using RFID chips with a protocol called 'basic access control' (BAC), were successfully hacked by university researchers and security experts."

5 of 235 comments (clear)

  1. time to buy by zerothink · · Score: 4, Informative

    It's time to buy RFID-blocking cover/wallet/bag/whatever. Or feel free to have some fun with aluminum foil - http://www.rpi-polymath.com/ducttape/RFIDWallet.php

    1. Re:time to buy by MikeyVB · · Score: 4, Informative

      For the curious, it takes approximately 4 layers of aluminum foil to block a scanner from activating the RFID signal when your Al lined wallet is point blank from a standard scanner.

      (After receiving an RFID enabled ID card here in the Netherlands last year, I tested it on our office copy/scanner RFID reader, and then simply lined my wallet with double the number of layers it took to block the signal. Works like a charm!)

  2. Re:Awesome... by think_nix · · Score: 4, Informative

    True to that check this out:

    http://www.personalausweisportal.de/cln_164/DE/Neue-Moeglichkeiten/Online-Ausweisfunktion/online-ausweisfunktion_node.html

    The new online functions! If you dont understand german try google translate, here a quick translation

    Identification on the Internet and on machines can in the future be done with the new identity card. This is simple and safe as the presentation of your previous card today.
    Even without being personally present you can use the online identity function (also: eID function) authenticate everywhere (where personalized services - are consequently offered and directly tailored to the individual user). With your new personal ID and your 6-digit PIN you can prove your identity in the electronic world simple, safe and reliable.

    That is just the first paragraph , better than the Sunday comics !

  3. Fry it by mwissel · · Score: 5, Informative

    What TFA forgets to mention is, that the ID card remains valid when you kill the RFID chip, as it still allows a person to be identified. Also, the fingerprint is a voluntary information to be stored. Most people won't know or bother and just let them store it anyway, though. For my fellow citizens: get yourself a new ID card w/o RFID just now (it is only a few Euros more expensive when you "loose" your current ID). If you have to get, for some reasons, an ID card with RFID on it, just put it in the microwave oven for a minute or so. Chaos Computer Club has proven this to kill the chip reliably.

  4. Re:perfect bomb triggers by ewanm89 · · Score: 5, Informative

    Is 96ft (~29m) far enough away, that's the Defcon record. Blackhat USA 2010 has beat it don't know the practical distance achieved but the paper gives a theoretical maximum of 565ft (~172m). Want to change some of those assumptions? It's a radio, distance is based on three things transmitter power, receiver sensitivity and atmospheric conditions the first 2 can be controlled very easily.