You may want to think twice before trading in your paper passport for an electronic one. New tests on electronic passports have revealed major vulnerabilities that could allow criminals to clone embedded secret codes and enter countries illegally.
Last week, German computer security experts illustrated how personal information stored on the documents could be copied and transferred to another device. The demonstration appeared to contradict assurances by officials in government and private industry that the electronic information stored in passports could not be duplicated. It also revealed some disturbing facts about the speed at which criminals are successfully bypassing security firewalls on various electronic products.
This latest research also seems to solidify concerns about the growing use of radio-frequency identification (RFID), which is used in electronic passports. You may already be familiar with RFID—it allows everyday objects such as store merchandise and security documents to beam electronic data to computers equipped with special antennas. Countries such as Germany use RFID in passports to help border officials guard against forgeries and automate the processing of international visitors. Currently, the U.S. does not use RFID in electronic passports, however officials say they plan to start embedding RFID in American passports in October.
U.S. officials in charge of the RFID application to passports refused to comment on the latest study about the vulnerabilities of electronic passports. But, some of the world’s top security experts had plenty to say about the new study. Most agree that additional work needs to be done to combat criminals and their abilities to pinpoint weaknesses in items like electronic passports, computers, phone equipment and other machines.
Since I am the type of person who is weary about giving my social security number over the phone and frankly, hesitates to use a credit card online, I certainly don’t think I will be trading my paper passport for an electronic one. Would you consider doing so?