radio frequency identification

Passport RFIDs cloned wholesale by $250 eBay auction spree

February 2, 2009 by Infinite

Video demo shows you how

Using inexpensive off-the-shelf components, an information security expert has built a mobile platform that can clone large numbers of the unique electronic identifiers used in US passport cards and next generation drivers licenses.

The $250 proof-of-concept device – which researcher Chris Paget built in his spare time – operates out of his vehicle and contains everything needed to sniff and then clone RFID, or radio frequency identification, tags. During a recent 20-minute drive in downtown San Francisco, it successfully copied the RFID tags of two passport cards without the knowledge of their owners.

Paget’s contraption builds off the work of researchers at RSA and the University of Washington, which last year found weaknesses in US passport cards and so-called EDLs, or enhanced drivers’ licenses. So far, about 750,000 people have applied for the passport cards, which are credit card-sized alternatives to passports for travel between the US and Mexico, Canada, the Caribbean, and Bermuda. EDLs are currently offered by Washington and New York states.

“It’s one thing to say that something can be done, it’s another thing completely to actually do it,” Paget said in explaining why he built the device. “It’s mainly to defeat the argument that you can’t do it in the real world, that there’s no real-world attack here, that it’s all theoretical.”

Farmers See ‘Mark of the Beast’ in RFID Livestock Tags

September 10, 2008 by Infinite

A group of community farmers, some of them Amish, are challenging rules requiring the tagging of livestock with RFID chips, saying the devices are a “mark of the beast.”

Michigan and federal authorities say the radio frequency identification devices (RFID) will help monitor the travels of bovine and other livestock diseases.

Supermarkets go high-tech to combat shoplifters

September 1, 2008 by Infinite

Cheese theft is on the rise, but razor blades, confectionary and oysters are still the top shoplifting targets. Photo / Brett Phibbs

Supermarkets are introducing electronic tags on items popular with shoplifters and other thieves.

The Source Tagging Alliance, set up by leading retailers, is encouraging suppliers to use radio frequency identification (RFID) and source tagging on grocery product packaging at the point of manufacture.

Enhanced Tracking Technology May Propel Adoption of RFID

April 15, 2008 by Infinite

A Los Angeles start-up says it has developed a way to dramatically expand the range of a popular wireless tracking technology, opening up many new applications for low-cost identification tags.

Closely held Mojix Inc. says its enhancements to a technology known as RFID — for radio frequency identification — sharply reduce the cost of setting up wireless networks that can cover entire warehouses, stores, distribution centers and yards where heavy equipment is stored.

Such networks can be used to quickly locate goods and track their movements without having to be close to a scanning device. Networks with similar capabilities today typically require sophisticated RFID tags that cost anywhere from around $4 to more than $1,000 each, said John Fontanella, an analyst at AMR Research. Mojix says its hardware uses simpler tags that cost as little as 10 cents each.

House OK’s bill limiting use of radio tracking devices

March 20, 2008 by Infinite

CONCORD – Privacy advocates overturned a Commerce Committee vote and won House approval of a bill yesterday limiting the use of radio tracking devices in consumer products.HB 686 bans the implantation of RFID (radio frequency identification ) chips in humans and requires a notification label on any product that contains them. It also bars the state from using the devices in drivers licenses, license plates and E-ZPass transponders.

RFID’s are readable from a distance of up to 20 yards, and are currently used mostly for inventory. Those who wanted strict limits on their use said the technology can be used to link consumer products to the individuals who buy them.

“It’s no one’s business where New Hampshire people go or don’t go. Protect your inventory, Mr. Retailer, but don’t follow the customers,” Rep. Neal Kurk, R-Weare, said.