MAKE: Blog: Fun with RFID aka Researchers see privacy pitfalls in no-swipe credit cards

Fun with RFID aka Researchers see privacy pitfalls in no-swipe credit cards

Jonathan Schwartz @ News.com has an article that will be making the rounds quite a bit regarding unencrypted information on some of the new credit cards. I fully expect our Makers to make a text to speech version that screams out names as people walk by -

"They call it the "Johnny Carson attack," for his comic pose as a psychic divining the contents of an envelope. Tom Heydt-Benjamin tapped an envelope against a black plastic box connected to his computer. Within moments, the screen showed a garbled string of characters that included this: fu/kevine, along with some numbers. Heydt-Benjamin then ripped open the envelope. Inside was a credit card, fresh from the issuing bank. The card bore the name of Kevin E. Fu, a computer science professor at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, who was standing nearby. The card number and expiration date matched those numbers on the screen. " Thanks Sdwarf! - Link.

More:

No-Swipe Credit Card No Problem For Thieves - Link.
Researchers See Privacy Pitfalls in No-Swipe Credit Cards" - Link.
Vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID-enabled Credit Cards - Link.
RFID Payment Card Vulnerabilities Technical Report - Link.

RFID projects, readers, hacks and more:

DEFCON RFID World record attempt... - Link.
Interview with RFID implanter - Link.
RFID Robot - Link.
RFID door - Link.
RFID enabled flame shooting trampoline - Link.
MAKE VIDEO PODCAST - Getting "Chipped" - Link.
HOW TO - Homemade RFID reader - Link.
HOW TO - Make a RFID zapper - Link.
DIY RFID-Zapper... - Link.

From the pages of MAKE:

RFID for Makers - Build this kit to read radio frequency ID tags. MAKE 06 - Page 162. Subscribers--read this article now in your digital edition!

Posted by Phillip Torrone | Oct 23, 2006 09:27 PM
DIY Projects, Electronics, Wireless | Permalink | Comments (2) | TrackBack

Comments

Newest comments listed first.

It looks like the "RS232 Line Driver" in the schematic above is intended to be a level converter from TTL to RS232 levels, so he's not connecting it directly above.

You are right though that it can't connect directly to the computer without a level converter.

Posted by: Oracle1729 on October 23, 2006 at 04:43 PM

RE: "Build this kit" Illustration...

I'm almost positive the Parallax RFID reader sends serial data in TTL level output, so you can't directly connect it to the computer as shown above.

I can confirm that at least the CrystalFontz displays have solderable jumpers for inverted TTL that allow direct connection to the Parallax reader and a 5vdc source.

Posted by: sboger@hotmail.com on October 23, 2006 at 02:47 PM

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