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E-Passports Susceptible To Cloning
Doug Caverly
Staff Writer
2006-08-03
 Insider Reports RSS Feed
The new e-passports, which contain RFID chips, were said to be "brilliant" and "ingenious." (Admittedly, I'm paraphrasing.) Most importantly, e-passports were said to be secure. Now, before they've even been properly distributed, they've been cloned.
According to Kim Zetter of Wired News, a German security consultant by the name of Lukas Grunwald is going to demonstrate his cloning technique at the Black Hat conference. Grunwald was less than impressed with the e-passports. "The whole passport design is totally brain damaged," he said. "From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They're not increasing security at all."
Most people seem to view this "accomplishment" as extremely discouraging. "Either this guy is incredible or this technology is unbelievably stupid," said Gus Hosein, a visitor from Britain. "I think it's a combination of the two," he then allowed. "Is this what the best and the brightest of the world could come up with? Or is this what happens when you do policy laundering and you get a bunch of bureaucrats making decisions about technologies they don't understand?"
Grunwald's cloning could be interpreted as a good thing - perhaps the government will now hold off on, or at least refine, the e-passports. Don't count on it, though. Zetter also heard from Frank Moss, the deputy assistant secretary of state for passport services at the State Department. Moss didn't seem very disturbed by the news.
"What this person has done is neither unexpected nor really all that remarkable," he said. "(T)he chip is not in and of itself a silver bullet . . . . It's an additional means of verifying that the person who is carrying the passport is the person to whom that passport was issued by the relevant government."
Look for the e-passports, RFID chip and all, in October.
Tag: E-Passports
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About the Author:
Doug is a staff writer for SecurityProNews, InternetFinancialNews, SearchNewz, and WebProNews.
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