Colorado ski resort uses RFID to enhance customer experience

Aspen Skiing plans to expand its deployment of radio frequency identification technology by embedding RFID in all daily lift tickets on is four Colorado mountain resorts, according to Computer World.

Last winter Aspen Skiing implemented RFID tags in its customers’ season passes and installed automated access gates at the resorts to streamline and enhance customers’ experience. (more here)

We say: Using RFID in daily lift tickets, season passes (photo ID cards), and developing smart apps is a sound technology investment and inexpensive on a per-pass basis. We see this as a growing trend for the future.

Anti Skim Laws Passed in CA

California follows Washington in adopting "anti-skimming" laws this month. The new measure prohibits the unauthorized scanning of RFID data from ID cards or RFID devices. This is a step in the right direction, but it is a small one. Just because it's now illegal, skimming is not going to stop, unless the consumer does something to stop it from happening at the card level.

(image: www.wired.com)

The best way to protect the information on RFID cards and devices is to fix the issue at the root. This can be handled on several ways. One method is to only use cards that take advantage of mutual authentication between the card and reader, like an HID iCLASS card uses. This is a viable option since the reader and card only communicate if the reader is an appropriate HID iCLASS reader.

The other much more acceptable fix-all method is to use a blocking device like a SkimSAFE to protect the RFID card's data from any and all reading, unless the cardholder wants it to be read. These are available in plastic card holder styles as well as small paper-thin envelopes that you simply slide the card into when you're not using it. These SkimSAFE holders do more than protect the card physically, because they don't allow any hacker or skimmer to "see" your information, no matter what kind of RFID is onboard the card.

Want to protect any RFID card today? Read more on SkimSAFE cardholders here.

Want to switch to a better class of RFID card? Read more on HID iCLASS cards here.

No matter what you do, if you use RFID in your daily life, please take steps to protect yourself and your data. The law is a step in the right direction, but it's not a solution.

Electronic identification sparks privacy debate

Climbing into his Volvo, outfitted with a Matrics antenna and a Motorola reader he'd bought on eBay for $190, Chris Paget cruised the streets of San Francisco with one objective: To read the identity cards of strangers, wirelessly, without ever leaving his car.

It took him 20 minutes to strike hacker's gold.

Zipping past Fisherman's Wharf, his scanner detected, then downloaded to his laptop, the unique serial numbers of two pedestrians' electronic U.S. passport cards embedded with radio frequency identification, or RFID, tags.

Within an hour, he'd “skimmed” the identifiers of four more of the new, microchipped PASS cards from a distance of 20 feet. (Click here for the rest of the article)

We say: Our FIPS-201 approved SkimSafe badge holders prevent unauthorized badge reading, or skimming. It's not hype. Who has your smart card been talking to?

Skimmers beware!

For those would-be-criminals wishing to exploit the somewhat new technology of RFID, watch out.

California's new SB 31 law has teeth! This new law is meant to deter those who would knowingly skim information from RFID cards and chips. This process is protected on some financial cards and access credentials through a process known as mutual authentication, but some other cards and credentials remain largely unprotected.

Effective January 1, 2009, the new law states that prosecuted "Skimmers" would be subject to fines and imprisonment of up to 1 year in a county jail.

Good for California. Good for the financial institutions.

We say: Why not proactively protect yourself and your personal data by using an EOS, or Electromagnetically Opaque Sleeve like the SkimSAFE? They're ready for use now, and easy to deploy. Just slide the card in and you're safe from the skimmers. Read more about these innovative devices here.