14 DAY TRIAL // After the security scandal regarding the new chip based American passports, Infineon Technologies announced that its security products will be integrated in new U.S. electronic passports in order to store and secure the data of the passport's owner, informs X-bit Labs.
"As the leading supplier of the specialized chips used for secure personal identification, financial transactions and access to electronic systems, our chips have successfully passed some of the most stringent security tests in the world. We are very happy to be chosen to supply the electronics for the large-scale roll-out of the US electronic passport," said Christopher Cook, managing director of Infineon Technologies North America Corp.
The scandal regarding the chip's security bugs seems to be down the drain, as Infineon has introduced all kinds of new technologies that are meant to protect the privacy of their owners. The Basic Access Control (BAC) is the most important of all and it can be activated only if the passport is passed through a scanner that reads coded information and then authorizes the electronic reader to access the data stored on the chip. According to X-bit Labs, there are more than 50 individual security mechanisms inside the Infineon chip, including computing methods for encrypting data, active protective shields and sensors.
More precisely, the core-system of the passport is the same as the one used by several companies to develop 'ID cards' for employees, so it wasn't so hard to make a sample of a future American passport. Therefore, the Dutch test lab Riscure cracked the encryption code on a sample of a radio frequency identification (RFID) passport in two hours using a PC, in 2005. "The basic problem with RFID is surreptitious access to ID," said Bruce Schneier security technologist, author and chief technology officer of Counterpane Internet Security, a technology security consultancy. "The odds are zero that RFID passport technology won't be hackable."
Even if the American authorities try to calm down the critics, several voices said that these chips, which are developed using the RFID technology that combines silicon chips with antennas to make data accessible via radio waves, can be easily traceable and the security shield could also be easily broken.
"In May, researchers at the University of Tel Aviv created a skimmer from electronics hobbyist kits costing less than $110. The equipment was small enough to fit into a briefcase or be disguised in any manner of luggage or clothes that could hide the 15-inch copper tube antenna. The antenna boosts the read-range from a few inches to a few feet. To extend the range of surreptitious access much further, a second piece of equipment is needed to fake the RFID reader into sending a "read" signal, which is then relayed via radio waves to the skimmer's reader near the targeted RFID chip," informed CNN.