Credit Cards With RFID Chips Seriously Lacking in Security

In a frightening demonstration of how smart credit cards with RFID chips are seriously lacking in security, RFID security expert Adam Laurie demonstrated just how simple it is to access information from these cards.  Using his own newly developed hacking script, Laurie accessed all of the information from an RFID-enabled credit card inside a volunteer’s wallet and displayed it on a screen for all to see. The information included the volunteer’s name, account number, and the expiration date of the card.

Pretty frightening stuff if you think about it. A thief wouldn’t even have to touch an RFID-enabled credit card in order to skim your personal information in its entirety.  All he would need is a hacking script similar to Laurie’s to gain access to the information held inside RFID chips in and other common items that utilize RFID chip technology. We aren’t just talking about credit cards here … we’re also talking about employer access badges, passports, public transit cards and even implanted RFID chips in human bodies.  The privacy pitfalls for all of these related items are too numerous to even list.
Laurie contacted American Express, the company that issued the card in question, and the company said that it felt its security was sound. American Express based their statement on the fact that the number used for the ExpressPay function of the card purportedly could not be used to make online purchases.

A representative of American Express, Molly Faust, went on to say, “ExpressPay has multiple security mechanisms. As the payment host, American Express would not verify/authorize an online transaction using just the alias account number. There are several other security mechanisms that would be required in order for payment authorization to take place.”

Regardless of what American Express has to say, I find it very disconcerting that it’s so easy to access that sort of information.  Laurie even demonstrated just how easy it was for him to change the information on an RFID tag injected into the human body. It seems to me like a few more steps need to be taken in order to guarantee security with these chips.

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Tagged as: rfid, Security & Technology