Re: RFID Flap Silences Security Researchers

["Robert Green" <ROBERT_GREEN1963@xxxxxxxxx>]

"Dave Houston" <nobody@xxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote in message
news:460681cb.848390968@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
> The scariest aspect of this is that the congenital idiots at Homeland
> Security . . .

Their you go, insulting sentient, albeit challenged, human beings by
comparing them to HS geeks!  (-:  Here in my county the number 2 HS officer
gunned down two *unarmed* furniture delivery men in his house, killing one,
critically wounding the other.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2007/02/02/AR2007020200
522.html

A police corporal, he got the HS job (over literally thousands of more
qualified candidates) because he had been a driver for the County Exec in a
previous "lifetime."  Then there was some other deputy in HS who had a sex
crime problem with juveniles.  These guys, at least, were as much a threat
to society as most terrorists.

<<Washington, 45, a former driver for County Executive Jack B. Johnson (D),
has long been a controversial figure. He was sued in 2000 by a man who
claimed to have been arrested and strip-searched for protesting Washington's
rough treatment of a motorist; a civil verdict against Washington for that
incident was overturned on appeal. Washington also was later temporarily
suspended for alleged aggressive behavior during meetings of a homeowners
association board on which he served.>>

> are planning to require RFID badges precisely because they can be
> read from several feet away.

NSA had a similar plan for badges in the 70's and abandoned it because the
bad guys could locate a hidden receiver near the entrance of the parking lot
and read who's who and apparently did.   It's documented in a book about NSA
called "The Puzzle Palace."  It's a fascinating read.

>      http://www.eweek.com/article2/0,1895,2073670,00.asp

<<Sen. Akaka said that if the proposed national database were to be breached
it would "provide one-stop access to virtually all information necessary to
commit identity theft,">>

Just what we need.  A Wal-mart for hackers that you carry around for them in
your wallet.

<<Smart Card Alliance . . .[said] "Our members, who include technology
providers of both contactless smart card and RFID products, understand human
identification security and agree that the vicinity-read RFID technology
proposed for the passport card is the wrong technology to implement a secure
identification card,">>

It's the right technology for inventory control.  Its value falls off
rapidly after than because of expanding security concerns.   The article
says it succinctly: "Long-range RFID tag technology, according to the
Alliance and other industry watchers, should be used for tracking products,
not people."

> The state of Washington is planning a pilot program.

http://www.boston.com/news/nation/articles/2007/03/25/wash_state_to_test_enh
anced_licenses/

At least "the enhanced licenses will not be mandatory for Washington
drivers."  Not yet, anyway.  I'm all for studies like that where it should
be pretty easy to tell if the people who volunteered for the RFID card
suffer a higher incidence of ID theft than their non-RFID enabled peers.
I'm all for it, as long as it's not mandatory and it's not my license they
are diddling!

--
Bobby G.