6 ms·

RFID chips are fragile in different ways (try holding three in front of a reader at once). When NFC enabled chip and pin cards first came out (and RFID enabled

by cbhl 14y ago

RFID chips are fragile in different ways (try holding three in front of a reader at once). When NFC enabled chip and pin cards first came out (and RFID enabled e-passports for that matter) came out, there were concerns that these cards could be skimmed from hundreds metres away as opposed to skimming requiring the card being placed in a modified payment terminal.

csense 14y ago
> there were concerns that these cards could be skimmed from hundreds [of] metres away Why is that no longer a concern? I would certainly be concerned about it. Even if the cards can't be cloned from a distance, couldn't they still be tracked from a distance? Could the school actually be helping stalkers follow students unobtrusively?
- TeMPOraL 14y ago
  It is, and the cards still can be cloned. You just need a big enough antenna. See: http://hackaday.com/2012/05/27/reading-rfid-cards-from-afar-easily/ http://hackaday.com/2012/05/27/reading-rfid-cards-from-afar-... + I recall someone else building a big antenna that allowed to read cards from range of meters.
  - Wingman4l7 14y ago
    Reminds me of the "bluesniper", which was basically a Yagi antenna on a rifle stock, meant for sniffing Bluetooth devices from a distance.
- cbhl 14y ago
  It's debatable. Some steps have been taken to mitigate the impact (foil envelopes for your Passport Card, basic shielding on e-Passports, the introduction of MiFare DESFire as an alternative to MiFare Classic) but AFAICT it's still possible to skim the cards remotely. There was a period of time when these concerns were all over mainstream media (especially in Canada and Europe, during the migration to Chip-and-PIN, particularly for credit cards) but you don't see it often these days (except in extreme cases like the one in this article).
colanderman 14y ago
RFID chips are fragile in different ways (try holding three in front of a reader at once). Mind sharing what exactly happens, before I have to explain why me and two co-workers suddenly need new ID cards?
- Evbn 14y ago
  Scrambled message so the reader can't recognize them.

by cbhl 14y ago

csense 14y ago

> there were concerns that these cards could be skimmed from hundreds [of] metres away Why is that no longer a concern? I would certainly be concerned about it. Even if the cards can't be cloned from a distance, couldn't they still be tracked from a distance? Could the school actually be helping stalkers follow students unobtrusively?

TeMPOraL 14y ago
It is, and the cards still can be cloned. You just need a big enough antenna. See: http://hackaday.com/2012/05/27/reading-rfid-cards-from-afar-easily/ http://hackaday.com/2012/05/27/reading-rfid-cards-from-afar-... + I recall someone else building a big antenna that allowed to read cards from range of meters.
- Wingman4l7 14y ago
  Reminds me of the "bluesniper", which was basically a Yagi antenna on a rifle stock, meant for sniffing Bluetooth devices from a distance.
cbhl 14y ago
It's debatable. Some steps have been taken to mitigate the impact (foil envelopes for your Passport Card, basic shielding on e-Passports, the introduction of MiFare DESFire as an alternative to MiFare Classic) but AFAICT it's still possible to skim the cards remotely. There was a period of time when these concerns were all over mainstream media (especially in Canada and Europe, during the migration to Chip-and-PIN, particularly for credit cards) but you don't see it often these days (except in extreme cases like the one in this article).

colanderman 14y ago

RFID chips are fragile in different ways (try holding three in front of a reader at once). Mind sharing what exactly happens, before I have to explain why me and two co-workers suddenly need new ID cards?

Evbn 14y ago
Scrambled message so the reader can't recognize them.