Lawmakers working to ban hacked RFID door cards
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InfoWorld - There's already an RFID security brouhaha brewing in Washington, and if some people have their way, it won't be the last legal fight waged in the nation's capital over use of the wireless technology.
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Details from chip-and-pin cards could be stolen while shoppers make purchases, scientists say.
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Congress was pushing on Friday to finish legislation that would boost security at U.S. ports, but at the last minute lawmakers added provisions to prohibit Internet gambling.
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As passports equipped with RFID chips are adopted more widely around the world, successful attempts to crack them are on the rise as well. Germany, the Netherlands and the U.K. have already reported compromised data, but countries such as New Zealand remain unconcerned about such threats. But what if the goal wasn't data theft but detonation?
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(InfoWorld) - With hotly contested nationwide elections just weeks away, several computer experts Thursday questioned the reliability and security of e-voting systems during a congressional committee hearing. Access doors of thousands of Diebold AcuVote-TS touch-screen systems can all be opened with the same key -- a type commonly used for office furniture, jukeboxes and hotel minibars, Princeton University computer science professor Edward Felten told the committee. That door protects the removable memory card that stores votes. "Though some claim that election procedures will prevent the kinds of problems we identified, the rigid procedures described in vendor manuals are often ignored in practice," said Felten, co-author of a study that was highly critical of Diebold Election Systems' AccuVote TS. Also today, the Committee on House Administration took no action on legislation proposed by Rep. Rush Holt (D-N.J.) aimed at remedying e-voting vulnerabilities. The Voter Confidence and Increased Accessibility Act (HR 550), introduced last February, now has more than 200 bipartisan co-sponsors. Among its various provisions, HR 550 would mandate that each machine produce a paper receipt that could be used in a recount. The bill also calls for e-voting vendors to offer greater transparency to their software. By not sending the bill to the floor for a vote, the committee missed any chance of ensuring that November's elections would produce auditable results, Holt said. The Help America Vote Act (HAVA) of 2002 was aimed at preventing the sort of notorious failures such as occurred in Florida in 2000 due to disputes over manually operated punch-card systems. Some $3 billion was earmarked under HAVA to fund state compliance, with most of that money going to purchase e-voting gear, said committee chairman Rep. Vernon Ehlers (R-Mich.) in his opening remarks for the hearing. "Though HAVA did not require the adoption of any particular kind of technology, many jurisdictions purchased electronic voting systems because they felt these systems were best able to meet the requirements of HAVA," said Ehlers. "Not surprisingly, some jurisdictions using this new equipment for the first time have encountered some difficulties," he said. Ehlers cited recent problems with e-voting gear in Montgomery County, Md. Earlier this week, Ehlers submitted an amendment to HAVA to reimburse any voting jurisdictions that print out paper ballots for voters who prefer not to cast their votes on touch-screen voting gear this November. Similar legislation was filed by Sen. Barbara Boxer (D-Calif.) in the Senate. The bill calls for up to 75 cents to be spent per paper ballot. Ehlers estimated that it would probably cost no more than $10 million, based on the estimate of the number of voters in precincts using touch-screen gear that don't offer a paper trail. He told Computerworld he offered the amendment because he didn't expect HR 550 to be passed this year. "We thought in light of the problems we've seen, most recently in Maryland, that collectively, these problems were shaking voters' confidence," he said. "We thought if jurisdictions want to give voters another choice, we should support them in that." Ehlers declined to predict when or if the emergency amendment would pass. Like all House members, Ehlers is up for re-election this year, and his district uses e-voting gear. "Certainly, any voting system that is not verifiable and auditable is of concern," he said.
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U.S. lawmakers on Thursday plan to  shine a spotlight on Hewlett-Packard Co.'s  snooping  into the telephone records of some board members and  journalists, a practice that Congress may soon ban.
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U.S. retailers and police called on  Congress on Thursday to require online auction sites such as  eBay to post the serial numbers of items for sale to help crack  down on gangs of professional shoplifters.
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Warning labels may soon appear on wireless Internet hardware after the California legislature passed a law that would require makers of Wi-Fi cards and routers to warn users of the dangers of unsecured wireless networks.
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Â· Internet industry asked to help curb illegal materialÂ· Terror bill proposes new powers against suspects
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The Food and Drug Administration announced an initiative to prevent theft and counterfeiting of prescription drugs through the use of radio frequency identification (RFID) technology.
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It'll be back, vows sponsor Legislative proposals to regulate government use of RFID technology in California have been vetoed by state governor Arnold Schwarzenegger.â¦
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A bill moving through Congress designed to clarify rules for advertising via fax machines could expose consumers to a flood of unwanted solicitations, according to consumer groups and activists battling against junk faxes.
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A top homeland security lawmaker has called for an investigation into possible cyber attacks on computer systems at the Homeland Security Department.
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As proposed legislation adding safeguards to electronic voting languishes, criticism of the bill is mounting among legislators and experts.
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Controversial plans to introduce identity cards are being debated in the Commons on Thursday.
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Legislation that would make it  illegal to obtain and sell consumers' telephone records could  come to a vote in the U.S. House of Representatives on Friday,  said Rep. Joe Barton, one of the measure's authors.
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U.S. lawmakers wrote to regulators on Monday expressing concern that some banks are processing unsigned checks used by fraudsters seeking to drain money from the accounts of vulnerable people like the elderly.