Credit card RFID protector sleeves?

[JohnM]

I notice that travel goods shops are now full of radio-frequency blocking sleeves for credit cards.

Does anyone know how real the threat of malicious skimming of credit card chip embedded information is?

 

[markis10]

I notice that travel goods shops are now full of radio-frequency blocking sleeves for credit cards.

Does anyone know how real the threat of malicious skimming of credit card chip embedded information is?

There have been reports of proximity thefts on a large scale:

[video=youtube_share;GJbtMclbatU]http://youtu.be/GJbtMclbatU[/video]

 

[harvyk]

I notice that travel goods shops are now full of radio-frequency blocking sleeves for credit cards.

Does anyone know how real the threat of malicious skimming of credit card chip embedded information is?

I expect the threat will rise as more and more cards have RFID chips built in. IMHO 1 in 5 hit rate is not overly good considering the risk of been spotted using the equipment. I also suspect that having such equipment without reasonable excuse may also raise an eyebrow or two.

But when it becomes the case of everyone who has a card will have the RFID chip built in, head to a crowed or touristy area, and I strongly suspect that it will become the choice target of pick-pockets of the 21 century so to speak.

 

[moa999]

While technically possible most of these cards seem to actually require distance of 4-5cm or less and a single card
Have multiple RFID cards and very difficult for the reader to work (or skimmer to work)

eg. I need to take my Qld gocard out of my wallet as some combination of my work proxy card, two Amex, Wow and 28 Degrees cards makes the reader go garbage.

 

[boylero]

http://www.amazon.com/Travelon-Rfid-Blocking-Card-Sleeve/dp/B005CEI0PQ

 

[Ewing]

eg. I need to take my Qld gocard out of my wallet as some combination of my work proxy card, two Amex, Wow and 28 Degrees cards makes the reader go garbage.

Same.

I used to keep my work ID card in my wallet and hold my wallet up to the reader. I can't do that anymore now that I have often carry 6 or more RFID cards in my wallet.

It was actually ok when I only had one Paywave card - although I was curious when my wallet started beeping twice when holding it up to the readers. Here's why:
HID iClass vs Visa Paywave - shaun ewing

I've also seen Paywave "theft" demonstrated in person at a security conference. They still need to get close enough to you to scan what's in your wallet, and given how much multiple cards confuse my own readers I'm not too worried!

 

[harvyk]

They still need to get close enough to you to scan what's in your wallet

So do conventional pick pockets, yet they seem to get away with it...

 

[markis10]

France has had them for a while and its a growing problem, the rate of fraud on proximity transactions rose to 0.015% (against 0.012% in 2010).

 

[Happy Trails]

And people said I was paranoid for wearing a tin foil hat.

 

[harvyk]

And people said I was paranoid for wearing a tin foil hat.

You probably don't want to read this then

http://berkeley.intel-research.net/arahimi/helmet/

The helmets amplify frequency bands that coincide with those allocated to the US government between 1.2 Ghz and 1.4 Ghz. According to the FCC, These bands are supposedly reserved for ''radio location'' (ie, GPS), and other communications with satellites (see, for example, [3]). The 2.6 Ghz band coincides with mobile phone technology. Though not affiliated by government, these bands are at the hands of multinational corporations.

 

[Happy Trails]

You probably don't want to read this then

http://berkeley.intel-research.net/arahimi/helmet/

Couldn't help myself; now I really am paranoid.

 

[Mal]

AFAIK, things haven't changed from the information here: snopes.com: Electronic Pickpocketing

I'm not overly concerned about my wallet - it's an RFID nightmare. And card # / expiry date is fairly useless these days for fraud purposes.

 

[JohnM]

Thanks, all, for responses .

As I suspected, nothing to get too neurotic about.

 

[rechoboam]

Thanks, all, for responses .

As I suspected, nothing to get too neurotic about.

Passports have RFID too. Just saying.
And some clothing is RFIDed. Do Benetton know where you are??

 

[Julesmac]

Passports have RFID too. Just saying.
And some clothing is RFIDed. Do Benetton know where you are??

came back from o/s Last week, and noted that in my pre-travel arrangements I read somewhere that it was wise to get the special covers for both cards AND passports. I didn't feel it was much of a risk - yet. Might change my ideas before next trip. I guess the bad guys are always a step ahead of us!

 

[tezzan]

came back from o/s Last week, and noted that in my pre-travel arrangements I read somewhere that it was wise to get the special covers for both cards AND passports. I didn't feel it was much of a risk - yet. Might change my ideas before next trip. I guess the bad guys are always a step ahead of us!

I can confirm it DOES happen. I've just returned from a European river cruise. On day 4 when in Budapest I noticed 4 transactions on my Mastercard totaling just over $1,000. We hadn't used our Mastercard at all on the the tour, and the only feasible and reasonable explanation was someone had scanned the card while in my wife's wallet, which by the way contained other cards with RFIDs. The bank repaid the money, so no damage done, but we had to cancel the card and get a new one when we got back, which is a pain in the xx_x when you have lots of direct debits from the card, and it meant that we couldn't use our card on the tour (OK that was a blessing!!!!).

No-one else on the cruise had this problem, so the chances are miniscule, but I know I will be buying the protective sleeves for our next trip.

 

[Mal]

I still don't believe that rfid skimming is an issue. Certainly there are multiple ways to get a card compromised and often the weirdest way is blamed.


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[DeKa]

I think the best solution to RFID protection is having multiple RFID cards in the wallet. If I tap my wallet containing multiple cards against a pay pass reader, it either doesn't work or produces a read error.

I tested with one RFID card, and 3 Citibank and other non RFID cards, and the credit card with RFID was successfully read (through 4 other cards).

 

[simongr]

I can confirm it DOES happen. I've just returned from a European river cruise. On day 4 when in Budapest I noticed 4 transactions on my Mastercard totaling just over $1,000. We hadn't used our Mastercard at all on the the tour, and the only feasible and reasonable explanation was someone had scanned the card while in my wife's wallet, which by the way contained other cards with RFIDs. The bank repaid the money, so no damage done, but we had to cancel the card and get a new one when we got back, which is a pain in the xx_x when you have lots of direct debits from the card, and it meant that we couldn't use our card on the tour (OK that was a blessing!!!!).

No-one else on the cruise had this problem, so the chances are miniscule, but I know I will be buying the protective sleeves for our next trip.

Did you see any small transactions going through before your trip? The card may have been compromised before your trip and only used during your trip.

 

[Mal]

Did you see any small transactions going through before your trip? The card may have been compromised before your trip and only used during your trip.

Yep the Rfid soup that multiple cards make makes it difficult to skim (and skimming is fairly useless anyway these days by itself). If I had to choose a theory I would go with someone actually touching the card directly and copying details. Eg a staffer on the boat or someone else with physical access to the purse.

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