What is Digg?11 Comments
- FunkyWitDaSysTm, on 10/12/2007, -0/+12well, we all saw this coming...
- peekingduck, on 10/12/2007, -1/+8I already put mine in the microwave. Apparently, that fixes most of the bugs.
- dracostimpy, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Wow, diggdong, that was an appalling attempt at a coherent statement.
- miglaugh, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Is this news? I thought this was already on the frontpage before.
http://www.digg.com/tech_news/3_Million_Secure_Passports_Cracked - DigitAl56K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4It is not behaving as intended because now it is possible to clone a passport after having your hands on it for a matter of seconds (long enough to photograph the data printed on the passport). The rest you can get by standing near a person with an RFID reader. The whole idea was that these passports would be more secure because they contained biometric information (e.g. a photograph). If you know how the system works you could just replace the data as necessary.
This is a really poor system design IMHO. I can't imagine why they didn't use a private/public key system with different key pairs for certain blocks of passport IDs. This could even have been wrapped around their current implementation to bolster security, or even to provide access to an "extra secure" part of the passport for those authorized to read and/or modify it.
This is just another case of the government wasting good money for nothing. These new passports don't make me feel any more secure, but give me concerns over my own privacy and identity. - dreamlayers, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4Why do they call this "cracked"? The key is composed of several things printed inside the passport and they just used that key to access the passport. It's not like anybody can just instantly access any passport without that key. Yes, the design is kind of retarded, but it is still basically behaving as intended.
- DigitAl56K, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1For how long? Do you have to let it stand to cool afterwards? ;)
- KB1775, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0sounds like RFID might be too good to be true, this should lead to concerns with other RFID applications limited only to the creative mind of the criminal. The possibilities are almost limitless, people could carry readers in airports and snag peoples passport info. However, problems like this can probably be solved by someone willing to work hard enough because once RFID is secure supply chain management will be improved greatly. Although this raises concern, at least it was discovered early enough that security can be added. This sort of reminds me of those Mobile speed pass things that some college students cracked and used to buy all sorts of gas station stuff (it was for a study/experiment, they didnt steal anything).
- sugar1210, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0This is the problem people were worried about all along.. of course it was going to happen. Anyone that has the device to read the RFID tags can tell what information the tag has on it.
- 3dom, on 10/12/2007, -0/+0Like hell I want my passport number, date of birth, passport expiry date and photo intercepted by anyone who gets within range of my suitcase :/
- diggdong, on 10/12/2007, -8/+1Sometimes convince does not lead to a luxury.
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