tedrichardson9925@sbcglobal.net wrote:

RFID is a highly controversial technology because (some say), it is
easily "hacked," which will leave it wide open for data theft. This
could mean - a bad guy gaining access to a secure building - or even
your personal information being compromised (cloned), when used in
"identification documents," such as passports.

And to make it even easier for the crooks, it's "wireless."

http://fraudwar.blogspot.com/2006/07/rfid-hacked-again-and-vendor-says-

ts.html

I expect simple RFID devices just emit a very long number. To "hack" it,
all you need do is find out what that number is and clone it. That kind
of RFID is likely to replace or complement the kind of information that
is already printed on food and clothing labels, such as batch numbers,
production dates, product codes and so on.

As long as the RFID is in the packaging this should not be a big deal to
anyone. RFIDs sewn into clothing is another matter.

More sophisticated RFIDs may do some form of challenge response so you
can't just record and replay it since it depends on the challenge which
would change each time. One would hope that passports etc. would
implement challenge response.

Or rather one would hope that RFID is recognized as a waste of time and
a potential security hole for passports and their ilk. Even if a replay
attack is not possible, just the presence of an RFID opens up all kinds
of unpleasant attacks vectors that don't exist otherwise. If a passport
has to contain extra data, it should be via a smart chip that needs
physical contact with a machine to be read, rather than someone just
walking by.