Wireless identity theft, also known as contactless identity theft or RFID identity theft, is a form of identity theft described as "the act of compromising an individual's personal identifying information using wireless (radio frequency) mechanics."[1] Numerous articles have been written about wireless identity theft and broadcast television has produced several investigations of this phenomenon.[2][3][4] According to Marc Rotenberg of the Electronic Privacy Information Center, wireless identity theft is "a pretty serious issue" and "the contactless (wireless) card design is inherently flawed".[5]
Efforts are currently under way to educate consumers as to the vagaries of Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) which can pose a threat, as well as attempting to initiate legislation to limit the use of RFID technology by companies and governmental agencies.
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Wireless identity theft is a relatively new technique of gathering an individual's personal information from RF-enabled cards carried on a person in their access control, credit, debit, or government issued identification cards.[6] Each of these cards carry a Radio frequency identification chip which responds to certain radio frequencies. When these "tags" come into contact with radio waves, they respond with a slightly altered signal. The response can contain encoded personal identifying information, including the card holder's name, address, Social Security Number, phone number, and pertinent account or employee information.
Upon capturing (or 'harvesting') this data, the thief is then able to program their own cards to respond in an identical fashion (via 'cloning'). Many sites are dedicated to nothing but teaching people how to perform this act, as well as supplying the necessary equipment and software.[7][8]
The financial industrial complex is currently migrating from the use of magnetic stripes on debit and credit cards which technically require a swipe through a magnetic card swipe reader. These transactions take approximately 48 seconds, whereas the newer radio frequency tagged card transactions require approximately 12 seconds. The number of transactions per minute can be increased, and more transactions can be processed in a shorter time, therefore making for arguably shorter lines at the cashier.[9]
Academic researchers and 'White-Hat' hackers have analysed and documented the covert theft of RFID credit card information and been met with both denials and criticisms from RFID card-issuing agencies.[1][10] Nevertheless, after public disclosure of information that could be stolen by low-cost jury-rigged detectors which were used to scan cards in mailing envelopes (and in other studies also even via drive-by data attacks), the design of security features on various cards was upgraded to remove card owners' names and other data.[1][10] Additionally a number of completely unencrypted card designs were converted to encrypted data systems.[1][10]
The issues raised in a 2006 report were of importance due to the tens of millions of cards that have already been issued.[1][10] Credit and debit card data could be stolen via special low cost radio scanners without the cards being physically touched or removed from their owners' pockets, purses or carry bags.[1][10] Among the findings of the 2006 research study, "Vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID-Enabled Credit Cards", and in reports by other white-hat hackers:
In a related issue, privacy groups and individuals have also raised Big Brother concerns, where there is a threat to individuals from their aggregated information and even tracking of their movements by either card issuing agencies, other third party entities, and even by governments.[12] Industry observers have stated that: '....RFID certainly has the potential to be the most invasive consumer technology ever'. [12]
Credit card issuing agencies have issued denial statements regarding wireless identity theft or fraud and provided marketing information that either directly criticized or implied that:
After the release of the study results, all of the credit card companies contacted during the New York Times' investigative report said that they were removing card holder names from the data being transmitted with their new second generation RFID cards.[5][10]
As of December 2008, it is estimated there are at least 270 million RF tagged contactless debit and credit cards in circulation in the North America.
Certain official identification documents issued by the U.S. government, U.S. Passports, Passport Cards, and also enhanced driver's licenses issued by States of New York and Washington, contain RFID chips for the purpose of assisting those crossing the U.S. border.[13] Various security issues have been identified with their use, including the ability of black hats to harvest their identifier numbers at a distance and apply them to blank counterfeit documents and cards, thus assuming those people's identifiers.[13]
Various issues and potential issues with their use have been identified, including privacy concerns. Although the RFID identifier number associated with each document is not supposed to include personal identification information, "....numbers evolve over time, and uses evolve over time, and eventually these things can reveal more information than we initially expect" stated Tadayoshi Kohno, an assistant professor of computer science at University of Washington who participated in a study of such government issued documents.[13]
Adam Savage of the science TV show MythBusters stated during the July 2008 HOPE conference in New York City, that when they were going to demonstrate how RFID worked and their vulnerabilities in financial exchange cards, their lawyers were challenged by other lawyers representing RFID vendors and several banking institutions. It was made verbally clear to the Mythbusters team that advertising for their show would be pulled by the finance industry if any demonstration of contactless card vulnerabilities was conducted.{{1}}