RFID Credit Cards Can Be Hacked With $8 Worth of Stuff

Jason Chen — Wed, 19 Mar 2008 15:20:17 EDT

Xeni of Boing Boing, Boing Boing TV and internet fame shows us that anyone—including the shady looking dude behind you in line—can hack an RFID-enabled credit card for just $8 worth of equipment. All it takes is $8 and a trip to eBay to get a reader, which you can then take and flail around to read in people's info. With their name, credit card number and expiration date, you can go online and get to shopping. Scary? Yes. But you can get around this hack if your wallet is made out of stainless steel or any similar material that won't jab you in the ass when you sit down. [Boing Boing]

Biometric Social Security Cards Proposed to Combat ID Theft

Sean Fallon — Wed, 13 Feb 2008 16:50:00 EST

Two Illinois congressmen are introducing legislation with the goal of upgrading that flimsy paper piece of crap we call a social security card to include a photo, fingerprint and computer ID chip. Recent data shows that nearly $45 billion is lost each year due to identity theft, which makes it increasingly necessary to safeguard our important documents from fraud. The only drawback is that the new cards will cost around $8 to make as opposed to the current 50 cent price tag. Damn...we've been paying 50 cents for those things? [Chicago Tribune]

Gizmodo: Identity Theft

RFID Credit Cards Can Be Hacked With $8 Worth of Stuff

Biometric Social Security Cards Proposed to Combat ID Theft