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Adam Laurie Hacks UK ID Card in 12 Minutes
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by Jordan Yerman | August 7, 2009 at 09:35 am
370 views | 13 Recommendations | 1 comment
Hacker Adam Laurie has hacked the new UK national ID Card in 12 minutes, cloning its stored data for use on a forged card.
51,000 of these cards are in the hands of foreign nationals who are living and working in Britain, and the UK government keeps saying that the cards are unforgeable. Of course, nothing is unforgeable. The Daily Mail article below jumps straight on the terrorism scare train, but the more likely scenario is a glut of fake IDs that anyone reading will presume to be real, because the scanner never lies. Which is true. It's the card that's lying.
Again, nothing is unbreakable.
Using a Nokia mobile phone and a laptop computer, Laurie was able to copy the data on a card that is being issued to foreign nationals in minutes.
He then created a cloned card, and with help from another technology expert, changed all the data on the new card. This included the physical details of the bearer, name, fingerprints and other information.
With a few more keystrokes on his computer, Laurie changes the cloned card so that whereas the original card holder was not entitled to benefits, the cloned chip now reads 'Entitled to benefits'.
The Home Office denies the hack claim, repeating once again that the ID cards are unhackable, even as Adam Laurie requests meetings with the Home Office that keep getting canceled. Just saying "Laurie is lying" while refusing to actually meet with him does not inspire confidence.
The Home Office has dismissed the report. "This story is rubbish. We are satisfied the personal data on the chip cannot be changed or modified and there is no evidence this has happened," said a spokesperson.
Whom would you believe: the hacker who claims to have broken an ID card, or the government body that's trying to sell you an ID card? Who do you think knows more about this stuff?
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jazzyzazzy
Glasgow, Scotland, United Kingdom
Pythiian1
New York, New York, United States
Anonymous user
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at 10:20 on August 7th, 2009
According to zdnet.co.uk:
Source: news.zdnet.co.uk