Filed under: Transportation, Wireless

No surprise here, but the kids from MIT were (presumably) right all along. The three students who were muffled just before presenting their case at Defcon have finally been freed; the now-revoked gag order had prevented them from exposing insecurities in the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority ticket system, but during the same court setting, the MBTA fessed up and admitted that its current system was indeed vulnerable. Of note, it only confessed that its CharlieTicket system was susceptible to fraud, while simply not acknowledging any flaws in the more popular CharlieCard option. Pish posh — who here believes it doesn’t have dutiful employees working up a fix as we speak?

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Filed under: Transportation

Ah, Black Hat. How we adore you. Each year there’s always one speaker who shows up and completely undermines something that most people assume is rock solid. This year, our pals at Hack-A-Day were in attendance to hear Nate Lawson expose California’s FasTrak toll system for the security hole that it is. Essentially, toll transponders that are purchased and slapped onto vehicles offer up exactly no authentication, meaning that anyone with an ill will and an RFID reader could wander through a parking lot and lift all sorts of useful information. Think it can’t get worse? The transponders reportedly support “unauthenticated over the air upgrading,” which means that each tag could be forced to take on a new ID if the right equipment was present. We don’t have to spell out “potential disaster” for you, now do we?

[Image courtesy of Mindfully]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It’s downright frightening that we’ve become numb to this news, but here again we’re faced with another report of e-passports being hacked within minutes. The University of Amsterdam’s Jeroen van Beek was reportedly able to clone and manipulate a pair of British passports in about the time it takes you to sip down your first cup of joe in the morning, and worse still, they were accepted as genuine by the software “recommended for use at international airports.” The tests point out a number of vulnerabilities, including the fact that the microchips could be susceptible to having falsified biometrics inserted for use. As expected, talking heads at the Home Office still insist that any chip manipulation would be immediately recognized by the electronic readers, so we’ll leave it up to you to decide who’s telling the truth here.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/general_sciences/Walkers_Swallow_RFID_Pills_For_Science’; It seems like some researchers from Radbound University in The Netherlands took advantage of the recent Four Days Marches of Nijmegen walking race for a little experiment earlier this month, where they convinced ten volunteers to swallow an RFID pill as part of a study to monitor body temperature. Apparently, the pills recorded and transmitted the walkers’ core temperature to a receiver in their backpack every ten seconds, which in turn sent the data via Bluetooth to a GPS-enabled phone that then relayed it to the operations center at Radbound. With all that info at their disposal, the researchers were able to monitor each walker and alert them if their temperature was reaching a dangerous level, or even alert others nearby if they weren’t responding (which apparently wasn’t necessary). As you might have guessed, the researchers are already hard at work planning an even larger test for next year’s event, which they hope could eventually lead to the system being used at marathons and other sports events.

[Via picturephoning.com]

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Filed under: Household

digg_url = ‘http://digg.com/pets_animals/Automatic_Sliding_Door_For_Dogs’;Frankly, we’re disappointed. It’s 2008, the veritable future, and you still don’t have an RFID-based automatic sliding doggie door? For shame! The Plexidor Electronic Doggie Door allows for all that nice canine coming and going with none of the less-nice house robbing a regular flap door enables. Your dog gets to wear an RFID chip on his collar, which lets the door know to automatically slide up when he shows up — hopefully with a sort of squeegee sound to complete the sci-fi effect. Prices range from $700 to $800 depending on configuration.

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Filed under: Wireless

For better or worse, targeted advertising isn’t going anywhere. Seemingly, it’s not getting any more discrete, either. NEC’s Digital Signage Solution combines a camera, a large display and a FeliCa contactless IC card reader / writer in order to dole out advertisements that cater to certain demographics. The system includes the innate ability to determine “gender, generation and other attributes” of a person in order to serve up advertisements that will cause him / her to spend some dough. From there, the individual can scan their phone in order to access related content on their mobile internet browser. That’s all and fine and dandy we suppose, but how on Earth do you convince busy citizens to stop by and have a look at an otherwise uninteresting flat-panel?

[Image courtesy of NEC]

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Filed under: Transportation

There are all sorts of ways to deal with rising gas prices and public transportation needs, and Montreal is getting in the game with what they’re calling the Public Bike System. Utilizing a central inventory and check-out website, solar-powered docking stations, and high-tech RFID-tagged aluminum bikes, the system is a gadget-maxed project that could be amazing or turn into a complete theft disaster. Each station holds six bikes and six docks, and users can find the nearest available bike on a website and then return the bike to any other dock. Payments can be made via credit, debit, or “member” card. Quick question, though — what if a popular destination has no available docks for a drop-off?

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Filed under: Wireless

RFID has long since been a pretty common find in your modern day hospital, but now GE and CenTrak are teaming up to make the technology even more useful in those long, winding hallways. Simply hailed as RFID “virtual walls,” the creation enables venues to “track tagged mobile medical equipment down to a portion of a single room.” By providing sub-room-level distinction, personnel can locate hardware within a monitored area as tiny as 6- x 8-feet, and although it’ll likely be used to locate cardiac defibrillators and portable ultrasound machines, patients could theoretically be tracked, too. The new tech will be shown off at the Association for the Advancement of Medical Instrumentation (AAMI) Conference in San Jose next week, though there’s no word on how soon the duo will roll this stuff out en masse.

[Via medGadget]

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Filed under: Wearables, Wireless

RFID clothing is far from revolutionary, but American Apparel is about to get everyone’s attention by placing tags on a smorgasbord of garments. The firm is setting out to implement RFID at the item-level, meaning that tags will eventually hit each article of clothing it produces. For starters, the advanced inventory system will be rolled out across each of its 17 metro New York locations, while plans are already in place to deploy the solution to another 120 North American outlets. The idea is to track individual pieces as they’re “tagged at the company’s manufacturing facility in Los Angeles, received in its retail stores, stored in the stock rooms at the stores, and then placed onto the sales floor and ultimately sold at the point-of-sale.” Of course, we wouldn’t expect the tags to follow you home or anything — too bad we can’t say the same for the company’s skeezy CEO, Dov Charney.

[Image courtesy of The New York Times]

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Filed under: Wireless

For airlines and cargo handling companies, the inability to know precisely where a specific item was located on a belt could (understandably) prove to be quite the limitation. Thankfully, the gurus at Alien Technology are aiming to add more functionality to a few of its readers in order to nix said quandary. The company recently showcased its Intelligent Tag Radar reader firmware in Las Vegas, which essentially provides its ALR-9900, ALR-9800 and ALR-8800 Enterprise-Class reader platform with the ability to understand “information about the velocity and position of tags, in addition to the contents of tag memory.” Furthermore, the included ITR-Singulation features allows the reader to “easily discriminate amongst adjacent tagged objects on a conveyor such as items, cases or airline baggage.” One less excuse for lost luggage? Where do we sign?

[Via CNET]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Gurus at Purdue University have conjured up a prototype device which, when injected into a tumor, can actually track the “precise dose of radiation received and locate the exact position [of the tumor] during treatment.” Currently, the needle-sized device is held within a hermetically sealed glass capillary, contains a miniature radiation dosimeter, operates without batteries and instead relies on “electrical coils placed next to the patient” for activation. As small as the RFID-enabled unit is, engineers are still hoping to create a version that is around the size of a grain of rice, and hopes are to have it in clinical trials in 2010.

[Via Physorg]

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Filed under: Wireless

When did the practice of lawmaking require an accompanying press release issued by a professional PR firm? An embedded photo of the sponsoring state official, too? Shameless. Nevertheless, it did bring our attention to a new law in the state of Washington which prohibits “malicious” RFID spying. When the new law (said to be a first of its kind in the US) goes into effect in July, anyone caught scanning a person remotely “without his or her knowledge and consent, for the purpose of fraud, identity theft, or some other illegal purpose” will be charged with a Class C felony. Great, so that covers the obvious criminal abuse of the technology. However, the original bill also included an opt-in measure that would require your approval before retailers and others could track your activity via that handy, store-issued discount card you carry, the implant you received during that stint in the joint, new credit card, or personal ID card you’re required to carry. Unfortunately, the opt-in requirement was stricken from the bill (and therefore not in the final law) after succumbing to heavy corporate lobbying. You thinking what we’re thinking? Contact information posted in the read link below.

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

The RFID hacks keep coming fast and furious — hot the heels of that Mifare / Oyster Card exploit, the crew at BoingBoing TV has posted up a little demo of how easy cracking the RFID encryption on an American Express card can be. All it takes is an $8 dollar reader easily available on eBay, some software, and the courage to walk around with a laptop waving plastic boxes at people’s butt pockets, but developer Pablos Holman says he’s hoping to develop a newer version that will allow him to be a little more discreet. The root of the problem is apparently the fact that the system uses local decryption rather than sending card info to a secure data center, but either way we’ve been worried about this for a long time — we’re sticking to loose change and the barter system from now on. Video after the break.

Continue reading RFID credit cards easily hacked with $8 reader

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Sure, it’s fun to say that one billion RFID cards are now at risk due to the Mifare Classic’s broken encryption, but it’s another thing to comprehend how widespread the fallout could potentially be — the London Underground’s Oyster Card is based on the chip, for example. And that’s just the tip of the iceberg: a new report says that the system can be broken in minutes using a typical PC — check the video after the break for a demonstration. We’ve also listed all the other now-potentially-vulnerable Mifare RFID implementations we could find, but there’s got to be more — put ‘em in comments!

Continue reading Oyster Cards vulnerable to RFID hack, lots of other systems too

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Filed under: Transportation

Our dirtier, hairier sisters over at autoblog had the chance to get up close and personal with Ford’s 2009 F-150 at the Chicago Auto Show. Notable to gadget ruffians, and those of you posing as such on the suburban trek to the ice cream social, is Ford’s new “Work Solutions” option. It features a Microsoft Sync-powered in-dash computer (with wireless keyboard, Bluetooth printer, 6.5-inch touch-screen) from Magneti Marelli with built-in Sprint Mobile Broadband and Garmin GPS. It also features an RFID-equipped Tool Link system built in partnership with DEWALT and ThingMagic for a real-time inventory of your RFID tagged tools. The FWS option will be available on all 2009 F-150 XL, STX, XLT and FX4 trucks; F-Series Super Duty XL, XLT and FX4 trucks; and all 2009 E-Series vans. Couple FWS with Sony’s 700 watt, 5.1channel, 10-speaker system and Sirius Travel Link options already announced for the F-150 and we might have to take the Engadget Mansion mobile. Video after the break.

[Thanks, K Banton]

Continue reading Video: Ford offers 2009 F-150 with in-dash computer, printer, EVDO, GPS, and RFID tool tracking

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Ah — dead, eerily-prescient, 20th century authors… they just can’t stop proving you right, can they? In a decidedly Orwellian turn, British authorities are considering a proposal to implant “machine-readable” RFID tags under the skin of some prison inmates as part of a plan to free up space in the country’s overcrowded prisons. Just like the nightmare world described in your favorite cautionary tales, the chips would enable authorities to track the location of implantees using satellite and radio-wave technology. The program would build off of the current ankle-tagging currently in place, and according to a official from the Ministry of Justice who finds the plan double-plus good, “All the options are on the table, and this is one we would like to pursue.” Of course, the controversial concept does have its detractors, Shami Chakrabarti, director of Liberty, says that, “If the Home Office doesn’t understand why implanting a chip in someone is worse than an ankle bracelet, they don’t need a human-rights lawyer; they need a common-sense bypass.” Shortly following this statement, however, Shami was taken to an interrogation room and outfitted with a rat-hood, and all record of her existence was erased from state records.

[Via Slashdot]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything about the much-hated Real ID unified RFID national identification card, but that doesn’t mean the Department of Homeland Security has been sitting still: New York, Arizona, Washington, and Vermont all agreed earlier this month to beef up the security of driver’s licenses to comply with DHS’ new Western Hemisphere Travel Initiative. WHTI is the same fun law that requires US citizens carry a passport to travel to Canada and Mexico, and while it’s not clear if it requires RFID licenses for states to comply, eWeek is reporting that both New York and Washington are headed towards including the tags anyway. Given the immense backlash Real ID came under for similar schemes, it’ll be interesting to see how WHTI plays out — but you can bet we’re holding onto the janky laminated driver’s license we got in college as long as we can.

[Via Autoblog]

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Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

Given all the crazy ways we’ve seen to get a door open, a simple RFID getup is pretty ho-hum, but this version goes above and beyond by adding in browser control, including a custom mobile browser control page. Alan Parekh created the system, which interfaces a standard keypad deadbolt to a Vista PC running the Phidget RFID software and a web server. Waving an RFID badge in front of the door will trigger the lock, as will a web app running on the machine. Pretty slick, but we’d be a little wary of having this setup ourselves — entrusting the security of our sexy bachelor pad to IIS gives us the shivers.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Misc. Gadgets

We’re not even going to pretend like we know exactly what the players who gather to play Blitz Play Hero III are attempting to accomplish — with with phrases like “level 2: DRAW with CHALK within certain subjectively chosen (psychogeographic) WiFi areas and PLACE RFID-tags - all analogous- old school tagging!” sprinkled liberally around the website, it seems likely that we don’t really even posses the necessary chemicals to understand what’s happening here. Regardless, the game features RFID light up Christmas tree badges connected to modified Nintendo DSs running a homebrew “game controller,” a little creative warchalking, and an system of scoring that appears to center around graffiti-ing Nintendo D-pads everywhere. That sounds like a little slice of awesome, no matter what the rules — but if anyone can tell us how all this will somehow result in “the LIVE concert is simulated over Bergen: A BLACK AND WHITE MOVIE with a virtual RFID SOUNDSCAPE concert!” in the spring of 2008, do please let us know in comments? Thanks.

[Via Make]

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!

Filed under: Wireless

They’re far from the first to put RFID tags to use for medical tasks, but Frank Sammeroff Ltd and Gentag Inc. look to have a slightly less invasive solution than some of the implantable or edible options we’ve seen in the past, with them instead making use of a tried and true skin patch to keep tabs on patients. That, they hope, will help to reduce medical errors by letting doctors use their cellphone or handheld to update medical records and receive warnings of potential drug interactions, among other information. Of course, the patches aren’t necessarily limited to medical applications, with Sammeroff also touting them as a possible solution for large organizations or amusements parks, and even as a means for parents to keep watch on their kids. No word on any takers just yet, but the patches are said to be “competitively priced,” so if you’re looking to bring a little paranoia into your organization, you might want to look into them.

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Office Depot Featured Gadget: Xbox 360 Platinum System Packs the power to bring games to life!