[Fwd: [announce] THC releases video and tool to backup/modify ePassports]

[Allen]

We knew it was coming, right?

-------- Original Message --------
Subject: [announce] THC releases video and tool to backup/modify 
ePassports
Date: Mon, 29 Sep 2008 10:00:26 +0000
From: rm at segfault.net
To: announce at lists.segfault.net


http://freeworld.thc.org/thc-epassport/

29th September 2008

THC/vonJeek proudly presents an ePassport emulator. This emulator 
applet
allows you to create a backup of your own passport chip(s).

A video demonstrating the weakness is available at
http://freeworld.thc.org/thc-epassport/

The government plans to use ePassports at Immigration and Border
Control. The information is electronically read from the Passport
and displayed to a Border Control Officer or used by an automated
setup. THC has discovered weaknesses in the system to (by)pass the
security checks. The detection of fake passport chips is no longer
working. Test setups do not raise alerts when a modified chip
is used. This enables an attacker to create a Passport with an
altered Picture, Name, DoB, Nationality and other credentials.

This manipulated information is displayed without any alarms 
going off.
The exploitation of this loophole is trivial and can be verified 
using
thc-epassport.

Regardless how good the intention of the government might have 
been, the
facts are that tested implementations of the ePassports 
Inspection System
are not secure.

ePassports give us a false sense of security: We are made to believe
that they make use more secure. I'm afraid that's not true: current
ePassport implementations don't add security at all.

Yours sincerely,

vonjeek [at] thc dot org
The Hackers Choice
http://www.thc.org


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