News Mythbusters RFID episode banned

http://www.bit-tech.net/news/2008/09/03/mythbusters-rfid-episode-banned/1

Comments by Adam Savage at a conference tell the tale of a planned RFID-busting episode which was cancelled following legal leanings from credit card companies.

 

The way I see it, the guys who will exploit these vulnerabilities probably already know about it, and how to do it.

Showing this would not be a case of educating criminals, but informing potential victims

 

Pheshh... Heck yea they should air that, if these corporations know about the vulnerabilities then clearly it isnt ready for mainstream use. Dosnt mean that counterfeiters, scammers and credit card fraud dont exist, but obviously this needs to be looked at twice. Heck, if a silly show cant air its feeble attempts at hacking and cracking it, its not worthy of use!

Stupid corporate america, being irresponsible, again....

 

I say, the myth busters should show some amateurs how to do a show about it and direct the whole thing, then spread it over the interblags and let the Streisand effect take hold.

 

If anyone's interested, the conference was TheLastHope.

Did anyone watch the entire thing btw? The pizza clay oven woman was crazy...

 

I think it was probably dropped as it would be VERY BORING.

 

I did a lot of research into card systems such as charliecards and oysters an absolute age ago. All the information you need is out there, a little smart engineering later and you've got what you want. I don't get why people need to be told how to do this and why the people doing the telling need to be gagged.

 

hacking RFID systems is one of the easiest things in the world to do, all you need is a trip to your local electronics parts store, or if you're into miniaturization, then you might have to etch a circuit board or two.

after the appropriate device has been buitl the operation is pretty much automated.


one of the most vulnerable systems is actually exxon's speedpass system, because it doesn't contain system-unique info, but the actual credit-card info......

 

It needs to be run so that people can see how this technology works and the security risks involved. Not running a show with information like this should be a crime. It is informing the public of already known and highly documented facts. What is the difference between this and investigative journalism?

 

the whole video is here: http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=1515761638951440862

 

Eh wouldn't this follow under freedom of the press/speech? so much for that.

 

yeah its ridiculous that they can't show it. and it sounds like a bit of a cover up story on the part of the credit card companies.

 

Thanks for the video, that was actually a pretty interesting watch.

 

Eh wouldn't this follow under freedom of the press/speech? so much for that.

No, it wouldn't. The network decides whether or not they want to air something. If legal pressure from the credit card companies forced them to back down, then that was their choice. It's not worth a legal battle just to make one TV episode. However, they could have aired the episode. No one was actually stopping them.

 

time index dead on play from 45 mins is about the RFID got banned bit

watched the all it very good shame about the banned part (guess every one knows now Not to ring the bank up now)

 

The companies using RFID need to Step-TFU and admit that there is a problem with the technology. While pretty much any security tech seems to be hackable these days, broadcasting/transmitting transaction information via RF is just asking for trouble. Don't get me wrong, I'm sure there are practical applications for the technology, but how lazy have we gotten? Is it so taxing to swipe a magnetic strip in a machine? Let me just wave near it instead... ah... much easier.

 

For anyone interested in further educating themselves on the vulnerabilities and future of RFID in our every day lives, I highly recommend reading Spychips by Katherine Albrecht > http://www.amazon.com/Spychips-Majo...=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1253122575&sr=8-1

 

ratings

 

Too bad this episode never aired. More information on the vulnerabilities and RFID Blocking Wallets and Passport Cases to protect against these vulnerabilities at www.difrwear.com.