Hello everyone,
As we wind down 2010 we focus on RFID and will continue into the New Year for 2011 working ever closer to understanding RFID and its parts so that we can bring into context a flash email send around the industry a few weeks ago. RFID is Radio Frequency Identification. Its radio transmissions, as Frank Thornton explains in his text, “RFID Security” published back in 2005.
The Context:
Recently, the CEO of Identity Stronghold a manufacturer of protective gear for electronic cards equipped with RFID was interviewed by a subsidiary of CBS News NY. The two-minute video concentrated on several “man in the street” style encounters wherein Identity Stronghold CEO came in close proximity of an individual and stated I bet I can guess what’s in your wallet or words to that effect. In the end, he was equipped with a card reader in a concealed bag and successfully captured card numbers, pins, etc….all contained on the unprotected magnet stripe on the rear of the credit cards.
Consequently, IGtv picked up on an email sent to hundreds of security directors in NYC and sought to verify the contents of the CBS interview and alas we found a SME (subject Matter expert) amongst our ranks…welcome Frank Thornton. Below while we’re trying to get our hands on Frank’s book we sought to get Frank on the show and begin the RFID discussions and then once we had the book take a deeper dive. Here’s the first of the two video’s recorded with Frank, the first is audio with the InfraGard banner and second is the full video. Let’s listen in and start to learn.
Video No. 01
Video No. 02
If you had been on IGtv and live chat you no doubt would come to the same level of understanding as most as RFID is widely, very widely in use today. Our initial discussion began with Wow….you can do that! To well…..okay…. with effort and investment allot can be accomplished, but what about the distance? Identity Stronghold CEO was standing right next to the man in street “victims”? The chat line lit up and now we were given examples of tags in retail department stores that we’re being read from distances of 6-10 feet. Then we thought harder and came up with RFID readers that are mounted on overhead steel structures so that as vehicles pass by at 14 mph at a height of about 20 feet thousands of vehicles per hour can pay “Easy Pass”. The examples starting piling up as our readers no doubt will acknowledge. We ended our discussions on RFID while on the show acknowledging that some readers can accomplish reading 200 mag stripes per minute. Its public knowledge and a part of VISA’s promotion to get its customers to use their credit cards with the RFID chip inside. What they don’t tell you is that the chip is fully exposed and vulnerable to attack.
Over the next couple of weeks we’ll explore RFID and update some folks and just settle in with others. The technology is very useful. But like all useful tools there is both an upside and a downside. Stay with us over the next few weeks and we’ll explore it. We invite your comments and observations as well. InfraGard is all about learning and understanding. Herein we’re re-introducing and learning some things we already know, adding some new things as well as building more value each day.
Thanks
Your NY InfraGard Team
