A Brief History of Cybercrime and Cyberwarfare - The Technical and Social History of Software Engineering - page 409

If cybercrime continues to expand, which seems likely, at some point the world
may need to create some form of unique biometric identification at birth and to
assign unique identity information for each citizen. Perhaps retina prints or DNA
tagging would be unique enough to prevent counterfeiting or the creation of du-
plicate identities.
Although “smart credit cards” with onboard chips that contain proprietary in-
formation are not yet used widely in the United States, they are starting to be used
in Europe and abroad. It is fairly easy to extract information from these smart cred-
it cards from a distance of five feet or more. This has led to the creation of stainless
steel or metallic wallets that screen smart cards from remote detection.
It is an unfortunate fact of modern life that computer and software technologies
are advancing so fast that unintended consequences of some new inventions are
not discovered until criminals figure out how to use them to steal or make money.
Smart Card Hijacking
Smart cards were first patented in 1969 and their use is expanding rapidly, espe-
cially in Europe. Smart cards are plastic cards the size of older credit cards that
have an embedded microchip with memory and sometimes a processor. Smart
cards can contain personal information, financial information, passwords, and
medical records.
Early smart cards required being inserted into a reading device. More recent
smart cards can be scanned and read at a distance of a few inches. However, hack-
ers can sometimes gain access to smart card data from a distance of a foot or
more. Therefore, potential victims are at risk when standing in lines, when visiting
crowded locations such as nightclubs, or when commuting on subways or buses
that are full enough to require standing.
The technology used for smart cards is not restricted only to small plastic cards.
Many countries now embed smart card microcircuits into passports. This brings
up the problem that even government-owned passport readers may not be fully se-
cure.
Hacking into passport readers and computers at major airports such as Heath-
row or New York could be a very serious security threat. It is possible to envision
a whole crew of terrorists entering a country if passport-reading devices are pen-
etrated.