BigFlyer

Seems to me people want the RFID shielding for their passports and credit cards. Seems to me the potential risks are different for each.

Passports: My understanding is that the information is encrypted - and the key to allow the passport to be read (not copied) is the info in the machine readable part of the passport. You can see this if you use the ReadID Me app to read your own passport, it uses the machine readable info to enable the passport to be read. For IOS: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/readid-me/id1463949991 - https://play.google.com/store/apps/d...hl=en_US&gl=US for Android.

Conclusion re RFID Shielding for Passport: Not necessary, serves no purpose.

Credit Cards: Before getting to the technical aspects, let's do the legal - you as the consumer are protected against fraudulent use. Fraudulent use might be a pain to sort out, but won't cost you money.
If I download a credit card reading app to my phone, I can read the credit cards with the app - but without the CID number. However, I think due to encryption the cards are not clonable.

However, seems to me that there might be vulnerability that someone with an app or reader from an outfit like Square could in theory process a charge - with something like this: https://squareup.com/shop/hardware/u...eader-with-nfc

Conclusion re RFID Shielding for Credit Cards: Probably some limited benefit, but chances of anything happening without shielding is slight. Might be danger if smart phone is temporarily unlocked and read by portable reader.

Opinions?

Loren Pechtel

My understanding is there is shielding built into the cover of the passport, it's not going to read unless it's open.

As for credit cards--yes, you are protected, but having to replace a card is a hassle.

Global Adventurer

It depends on your tolerance level. I keep everything in rfid sleeves and my entire phone in a mylar bag depending on which country I'm located. I'm not dealing with any of it if I don't need to. And I cover all the security codes, credit card numbers with duct tape so they can't be picked up by camera or naked eyes. Been doing that for years.

der_saeufer

Definitely pointless for passports for the reasons already mentioned--you need data from the bio page to decrypt and can't read the chip on a closed passport anyway.

IMO, also pointless for credit cards. Thanks to modern, strong encryption there's never been a documented case of a contactless card being cloned. Even EMV contact chips, which are quite old technology at this point, have only been cloned in research scenarios that would be nearly impossible to replicate out in the world.

One could theoretically run around with a modified payment terminal and try to collect fake payments, but the reason no one does is because the amount of real personal info you'd have to give to get the merchant account virtually guarantees you'd get caught, and the delay in being paid by the processor is more than long enough for most of your victims to catch the fraud so you'll never see a cent. Plus, in 2023 most of us have at least two contactless cards in our wallets or purses, and the reader will error out if it reads more than one card simultaneously.

If you're gonna do credit card fraud without straight-up stealing the physical card, the old ways are still best: skimmers on swipe terminals, dishonest restaurant staff (in North America) and stolen data from merchants. All three are a lot harder than they were 10 years ago, though.

SPN Lifer

I bought an RFID-shielded wallet from Recreational Equipment, Incorporated (REI). It has worked well for over a decade.

bhomburg

Credit cards - you are protected, but it's a hassle. Debit cards, in very widespread use here in Europe - not so much, especially debit cards with additional wallet functions that are intended for micropayments and have zero protection.

Global Adventurer

I have the ones that the US Government contracts through, but the best ones that have outlasted even those are the ones REI sells. Not sure they sell the same type now. Those things are a tank. Their the oldest ones I have and they still work. I just take a hotel keycard and put it in them to see if I can access my room. That's a simple test and others have definitely fail. Still going strong!

Global Adventurer

Getting new cards is pain in the.....and that's if you can receive them on time, and that's if the envelope you receive hasn't been compromised. I'll stick to RFID shielding and hope for the best.

BigFlyer

Not correct re passport - it can be read while closed so long as you have the machine readable info (which you can only get by opening the passport, so the ability to read it when closed is not a security risk.)

Global Adventurer

Last year I started using cash for any odd purchases while traveling, and keep my travel wise debit card frozen and only use it for ATM withdrawals. Don't want to be bothered with all the little credit card scams that go on with mobile devices or trying to fix the issues. And I use small bills and exact change.

cardsqc

I actually go out of my way to buy wallets without the rfid shielding, largely because I keep my work id in it, and need to use it to get through doors a fair amount, and the readers are generally mounted such that I can get them to read without even taking my wallet out. Honestly, I think the rfid thing is for the truly paranoid myself, and I haven't really seen anything that's convinced me of any true threat coming from people compromising rfid stuff from a distance. That said, if someone wants to do it, whatever, it's not like it's going to hurt anything either.

Quite frankly, the criminals are doing perfectly fine compromising accounts via other methods anyways, so it's probably not even worth the hassle for them to be trying it. (Heck, I have a business account that's had *both* debit card numbers compromised at the same time, and has had it's checking account number compromised, all within the last year. Neither of those would have been anything to do with rfid, so there's still plenty of an attack vector for them without getting too high tech.)

BigFlyer

So from the responses above it appears that RFID shields are useless for any security purpose - passports can't be read without opening the passport and getting the machine readable info, credit card chips can't be cloned, and trying to make a charge through someone's pocket is impractical.

WillCAD

I've never considered proximity skimmers to be a terribly immediate threat, so I've never made a purchase with that in mind.

However, I do have a . My everyday carry wallet is one of those , which I bought strictly because I love the convenience and speed of the accordion style card access, but it also offers RFID protection.

So I'm protected, even though I don't really think I need to be. I figure... it cost me nothing above what I was already paying for my preferred passport case and wallet, and if I have underestimated the threat of proximity card skimmers, I've still got some reasonable protection.

It's a win-win situation.

TPACjv

One aspect of rfid blocking which is a net positive, is paying for transit. As many cities had adopted tap and go transit payments, rfid blocking wallets can prevent one from being double charged.

In my city, buses have multiple entry points with rfid payment terminals right at wallet height and standing too close to them has been known to cause extra charges.

antichef

That seems to sum it up quite well.