Skimming RFID Credit Cards

See the icon in the circle? It means a high frequency RFID chip is inside the card. This icon is usually printed smaller on the backside of credit card. If the card has this feature it is quite useful for quicker purchasing, but the card information can also be skimmed by a bad guy. Visit skimsafe.com for a solution to this problem.

Adding Payment Options to US Government ID Cards?

Yep, the US government is looking at adding more functions to the Common Access Card according to this report.

We say: This is another very good reason to use our SkimSAFE badge holders with CAC and other PIV cards.

TWIC enrollment exceeds 1.36 million

As of last week, 1,365,433 workers had enrolled in TWIC – the biometric card required for nearly 1.5 million port employees, longshoremen, mariners, truckers and others who require unescorted access to secure areas of ports. They need to have background checks before being issued cards with their biometric data and residency documentation.

Standard TWIC enrollment costs $132.50, although workers with “current, comparable” threat assessment background checks such as hazmat endorsements, Merchant Mariner Documents or Free and Secure Trade (FAST) cards may obtain a TWIC card for $105.25. The card is designed to last five years. (more here)

We say: At under $4 MSRP the our SkimSafe Badge Holders are a bargain to protect data skimming on TWIC cards. It seems more and more ports love the ease of use and elegant design.

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.