Real ID Act News: Biometric passport chips can be cloned in an hour, researcher warns

[DHS Sec. Michael Chertoff deliberately wants to scare you and has asserted that the REAL ID Act is going to protect you from some boogeyman, which is absurd as noted in the following story, for the simple fact that all technology can be hacked, and that when your info is in a so-called secure central database it's still vulnerable]

Biometric passport chips can be cloned in an hour, researcher warns

James Meikle
guardian.co.uk,
Wednesday August 06 2008 11:49 BST

New microchipped passports designed to protect against identity theft by terrorists and criminals can easily be faked, it was claimed today.

Tests showed that personal information could be cloned and manipulated within an hour before being inserted into new chips, the Times reported.

The paper said it had exposed "security flaws" in the passport system by asking a researcher to clone the chips on two British passports and implant digital images of Osama bin Laden and a suicide bomber. The altered chips were then passed as genuine by reader software used by the UN agency that sets the standards for such e-passports.

The tests showed that bogus biometrics could be inserted in fake or blank passports, the Times alleged, saying the flaws also undermined assertions that 3,000 blank passports stolen last week could not be forged.

The identity and passport service at the Home Office remained confident, however, that the British biometric passport was "one of the most secure passports available", saying no one had been able to demonstrate they could modify or change information contained in a chip, and that if they did, it would be obvious to the reader.

A spokesman added: "Continuing investment in biometric technology and enhanced security measures will help ensure that passport security is maintained now and in the future."

The tests for the Times were conducted by Jeroen van Beek, a security researcher at Amsterdam university who can read, clone and alter microchips so they are accepted by the software recommended for use at airports by the International Civil Aviation Organisation.

Van Beek could not be contacted today, but the Times said he had used his own software, a publicly available programming code, a £40 card reader and two £10 radio frequency chips. Within an hour, he had cloned and altered chips so that they were ready to be planted in stolen or fake passports.

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