Originally published at: http://boingboing.net/2017/06/23/time-for-a-new-wallet-check-o.html
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Note to crappy ad copy writers, card skimmers have exactly nothing to do with RFID, an RFID-blocking wallet will do nothing to protect against the vast majority of in the wild card duplication attacks, in fact in many cases even the chip won’t help as may locations targeted with skimmers require a full insert of the card even if they use the chip (ATM, gas pump, etc.) allowing the skimmer to clone the magnetic track even if that transaction didn’t use the track data.
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Beat me to the punch.
If your card does not have a WiFi symbol
or if it is not the kind you can use by just waving it at the reader, then an RFID wallet provides zero protection.
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It’s almost like they have no idea what they’re talking about. And almost like BB doesn’t even vet the crap that they sell so they don’t look stupid.
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IKR?
Are you disappointed in BoingBoing? I know I am!
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What I want is a wallet that exposes precisely one NFC equipped card and blocks all the others.
Unfortunately we have a few residual backward machines in this country that can’t cope with Android Pay, and my bus pass can’t yet be loaded on a phone, so something is needed.
I dealt with that issue recently by slipping the rogue card between the back of my phone and the case.
So who really needs RFID-blocking? Probably nobody:
The main issue, as I noted above, is that if you have several NFC-equipped cards you may use the wrong one to pay if you swipe your wallet. This has been an issue on, for instance, the London Underground.
The risk of a criminal having an NFC reader which is connected to a legitimate bank account (the only way they can currently drain your account) is rather low since there’s a transaction record.
NFC =!= RFID, because RFID is used for identification of objects at moderate range (it works up to a metre or so) whereas NFC is used for transactions and the range is much less - a lot of the readers are limited to a few centimetres. But try explaining this to people who don’t understand RF. Or people who think somehow it is more secure to insert their card into a machine and type in a PIN than to run that card over an NFC reader. You want to spend the money, and you have the card, idiot! If the card is already NFC enabled, you’re gaining nothing.
The problem will come if banks allow NFC cash withdrawal. That would be a stupid idea because then junkies will steal cards to buy drugs.
-sigh-
rant over.
A slim wallet with a nice 4-QXHD log monitor sounds awesome. Cosplaying as a SpainCoin kiosk should get me extra legroom on the bus, too.
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