Criminals and terrorists

 

RFID chips love to share what they know, and business and the government aren’t the only folks listening. Home building an interrogator or RFID remote cloning device is simple and cheap. Imagine a wallet full of RFID-enabled credit cards. Unless your pocket is lined with copper mesh and welded shut, those credit cards are all broadcasting a radio signal that includes your name, your credit card number, and your address. You might as well walk around screaming your social security number at people. Most of that information is probably encrypted—but any crook savvy enough to build a machine for stealing your credit card information over the air probably has a computer rig at home beefy enough to snap the weak encryption on most RFID chips like a Slim Jim.

If you’ve got a newer car, the fancy key fob that lets you start your car without inserting a key into the ignition is equipped with RFID. Those tags can be cloned, and your car will never know the difference between you and the thief behind the wheel.

There’s a thriving worldwide black market for stolen passports. Some go to refugees hoping to sneak into the United States or Europe in search of a better life; some go to the sorts of people who crash airplanes into buildings. Thanks to RFID, passport thieves don’t need to lay a finger on you to get hold of your documents.