RFID-hack hits 1B digital access cards worldwide
WebWereld Netherlands 3/17/08
Tom Sanders, WebWereld Netherlands
The Dutch government has issued a warning about the security of access keys that are based on the widely used Mifare Classic RFID chip.
Government institutions plan to take "additional security measures to safeguard security, " Guusje ter Horst, minister of interior affairs, wrote in a letter to parliament on Wednesday.
NXP developed the Mifare Classic RFID (radio frequency identification) chip, which is used in 2 million Dutch building access passes, said ter Horst. One billion passes with the technology have been distributed worldwide, making the security risk a global problem. A spokesperson for the ministry told Webwereld, an IDG affiliate, that it had not yet notified other countries.
The warning comes in a week when two research teams independently demonstrated hacks of the chip's security algorithm.
On Monday, German researchers Karsten Nohl and Henryk Pl
