RFID technology and contactless cards

hansi

Is it really necessary to use a stainless steel wallet to protect my cards, or is this just another scam?

Mirno

You don't need to - the RFID should be encrypted anyway so should stop a hacker "eavesdropping" on the communication.

If you are paranoid you can wrap the card in tinfoil - this should reduce the range the card will respond to less than 6" (reports on the internet say 2" but I guess it depends on the thickness of the foil) - meaning only hackers that hug you would have a chance of reading the card.
You can make this less messy by sandwiching the aluminium between bits of cardboard, and place the credit card between two of these sandwiches.

Alternatively carry more credit cards!
The more you have the less power there is in the signal to adequately power them all. RFID uses the power in the radio waves to run the chip in your card, so the more of them you have in your wallet the less power each of them will get to respond.

Mirno

Gromitt

hansi wrote: »

Is it really necessary to use a stainless steel wallet to protect my cards, or is this just another scam?

Just carry 2 contactless cards together, one will corrupt the communication with the other meaning that neither can be read until you take it out of your wallet.

hansi

I've only got one!

alanq

Mirno wrote: »

the RFID should be encrypted

Yes it should but it was shown earlier this year that sufficient information could be gained from a contactless Barclaycard to make purchases from Amazon.

http://www.channel4.com/news/millions-of-barclays-card-users-exposed-to-fraud

TadleyBaggie

hansi wrote: »

I've only got one!

Get an Oyster card then.

[Deleted User]

TadleyBaggie wrote: »

Get an Oyster card then.

Or a prepaid Orange Cash / Virgin

Gromitt

hansi wrote: »

I've only got one!

So request another. Say you've misplaced it. Colour your existing one in bright colours to stop you from using it. Or get a different card like others suggest.

richard734

Paranioa scams.... IF rfid theft of data became an issue, it may be worth playing with teh silver foil. But as far as I know, so called 'thefts' have only occured in LAB conditions or as part of planned experiements.
I am prepared to corrected, but I have not heard of one case of genuine fraud or theft using crowd scanned RFID data.
BUT, Maybe thats becayuse its so good its undetectable......

someone

Gromitt wrote: »

Just carry 2 contactless cards together, one will corrupt the communication with the other meaning that neither can be read until you take it out of your wallet.

Nope, the standard used for contactless cards allows it to talk any card over the reader in turn but the terminals currently stop if it detects more than one card (to avoid any confusion)

andrew-the-cat

The contactless feature set includes anti-collision so if you have more than 1 card in the proximity of the reader it won't read either. You can get an Orange Cash card for nothing (or something like £5) which is contactless.