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Shmoocon Demo Shows Easy, Wireless Credit Card Fraud
Sparrowvsrevolution writes with this excerpt from a Forbes piece recounting a scary demo at the just-ended Shmoocon: "[Security researcher Kristin] Paget aimed to indisputably prove what hackers have long known and the payment card industry has repeatedly downplayed and denied: That RFID-enabled credit card data can be easily, cheaply, and undetectably stolen and used for fraudulent transactions. With a Vivotech RFID credit card reader she bought on eBay for $50, Paget wirelessly read a volunteer's credit card onstage and obtained the card's number and expiration date, along with the one-time CVV number used by contactless cards to authenticate payments. A second later, she used a $300 card-magnetizing tool to encode that data onto a blank card. And then, with a Square attachment for the iPhone that allows anyone to swipe a card and receive payments, she paid herself $15 of the volunteer's money with the counterfeit card she'd just created. (She also handed the volunteer a twenty dollar bill, essentially selling the bill on stage for $15 to avoid any charges of illegal fraud.) ... A stealthy attacker in a crowded public place could easily scan hundreds of cards through wallets or purses."
I've been using a Faraday Cage wallet and passport holder by DIFRwear: http://difrwear.com/ for several years now. I don't work for them, but with the very cheap wallet prices and sturdy construction I've been very pleased with the products. I can testify that they do work as I have an RFID key card and it won't activate the door if in the wallet.
"with this attack you MUST be the next person to use the card's credentials." "the cries that people have thrown up that someone could scan an entire room full of people at once are totally off-base"
Because it's impossible to build a rig that fits in a briefcase or backpack that scans cards within a meter or two of the holder and automatically runs scripted transactions as soon as a card is detected in range, right?
Just because it's not AS bad a picture as the doomsayers are painting as a worst-case scenario doesn't mean it isn't ripe for exploitation.
What exactly is the advantage to these RFID credit cards? All the readers I've seen still require you to get the card close to it to work. Has the world really grown so lazy that we can no longer be bothered to make a vertical swiping motion? I can see the benefit for payment-enabled cell phones or key fobs, but credit cards? Seems like a solution to a problem that didn't exist.
I have a RFID blocking wallet. My security badge for work will not scan when inside the wallet (but it will scan inside all my co-workers wallets and my old wallet).
Same price as a normal wallet and not a bad investment.
You can read RFID cards in peoples wallets at 30 ft with a transponder with higher send signal and a better antenna. The same applied for multiple cards. Some reading devices won't process if there is more than one card in it's reach, but that's a software decision. Devices purpose made to leech RFIDs do not play by the rules and legislation set out for "proper" RFID equipment.
I was promised a flying car. Where is my flying car?
Wasn't RFID the subject of the Mythbusters episode that was "squelched" by Visa ? Adam made a few comments and the issue was clamped down upon by all. The credit card companies (huge advertisers-when you get 29% interest you have lots of money) made it clear that RFID weaknesses were not a subject to be discussed in public to a lay audience.