Identity Theft From Your Car; RFID Technologies Could Be Pandora’s Box

Over the past 20 years, technology has become a pervasive part of our lives. And despite a couple of recessions and a dot-com bubble, technology and innovation are the cornerstones that drive our economy and shape the way we live. For the most part, technology has improved our lives. But every so often a technology comes around that is more beneficial for criminals and growth of RFID, the short-range wireless technology that’s being used for everything from automatically paying for bridge tolls to encoding personal information in new U.S. passports, is no exception.

According to a recent Yahoo! Tech article, using less than $200 in equipment and his car, one curious technologist figured thought he’d see what he could uncover by simply driving around San Francisco, scanning for passport-embedded RFID tags. The result? In about an hour of driving around tourist-heavy parts of town, he skimmed a total of six RFID passports, with a minimum of effort involved on his end and his victims none the wiser.

Wow, scary. The bad guys are going to be all over this. How do we stop this? Lobby for stronger security standards in the RFID marketplace? The technology is already out there. Pandora’s box has been opened.