Is RFID Protection Necessary? | Understanding the Risks & Realities
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- čas přidán 25. 07. 2024
- RFID protection is marketed by many wallet, purse, and bag companies as a necessity for traveling. However, is it really necessary? In this video, we discuss how RFID works and whether it’s worth protecting your credit cards, IDs, and passes against radio skimmers and thieves.
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HELPFUL ARTICLES:
- "No, you still don't need an RFID-blocking wallet" (CSO Online) ⇨ goo.gl/JPVH98
- "The Skimming Scam" (Slate) ⇨ goo.gl/vaxRwF
- "RFID Credit Cards and Theft: Tech Clinic” (Popular Mechanics) ⇨ goo.gl/H8auAC
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PRODUCTS MENTIONED (AMAZON LINKS):
- Alpine Rivers 16 RFID Blocking Sleeves ⇨ amzn.to/2eT0cSR
- Bellroy Hide & Seek (RFID edition) ⇨ amzn.to/2vPqxp4
- Bellroy Note Sleeve (RFID edition) ⇨ amzn.to/2h8d1t3
- Bellroy Travel Wallet (RFID edition) ⇨ amzn.to/2eSDhqQ
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ADVERTISER DISCLOSURE:
This video may contain links through which we are compensated when you click on or are approved for offers. The information in this video was not provided by any of the companies mentioned, and has not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any of these entities.
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MUSIC CREDITS:
- "Magic Marker" by Silent Partner
- "Microchip" by Jason Farnham
- "I Love You" by Vibe Tracks
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PHOTO CREDITS:
- Pixabay ⇨ pixabay.com
- "American Express with Blink logo" by Source (WP:NFCC#4), Fair use, en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?...
Okay I was considering a wallet with RFID protection but after watching this video I think I'm just going to go with any wallet I'd like.
Glad the video was helpful. Contactless cards are becoming more common now in the US (which wasn't the case when I created the video), but I still don't think it's a real threat.
@@TripAstute I agree with you. In my opinion I don't believe it's a real threat either.
Great Quality man. Keep up! Subscribed.
Thanks Akash! We appreciate all the support. 👍
Great video! Short, informative, helpful and nicely narrated. Thanks.
Thank you! Glad it was helpful. 👍
And remember, with a credit card, you have a month to challenge the transaction with your cc issuer.
Great point. Thanks for sharing! 👍
Thank you. Now I understand the difference and can breath more easily.
Awesome. Glad the video was helpful! 👍
Hi Ernest, awesome review, another great video , keep these coming please !!
Jose P.
Thanks Jose! I really appreciate it! 😀
video i'm really looking for thanks :)
Awesome. Glad the video was useful. 😊
thanks
Thank you! This was very informative.
Awesome. Glad the video was helpful. 😊
I have a RFID wallet and I use contact pay, its mostly for my work I.D. and my truck driving I.D. and licences. In Europe you have 3 different cards (CPC, Tachograph/Digicard and you actual drivers licence) to drive a truck so I find it practical for what I do and it fits good it a cargo pocket.
Good to know! Thanks for sharing. 👍
Here we are at the end of 2018 and I still have two out of three cards that are still "contactless." There really isn't much of a "premium" on RFID wallets for sale anymore. An RFID wallet can be purchased from Amazon for as little as $5.99. (Maybe less if you dig around some) I figure it is very cheap insurances. Not like there is a downside to having the protection. Kind of like using that sanitizer wipe on a shopping cart handle. There is no problem "until there is one".
Very true. With contactless cards, RFID protection might be more important. I'm planning to do a follow-up video in early 2019 on the RFID situation and whether protection is now necessary.
Great info, just saved me some $$$. Thanks.
Awesome. Glad the video was helpful! 👍
RFID has retuned. Chase got rid of it maybe 5 years ago and added the chip but now with Apple Pay, etc normalizing contactless payment, chase decided to add it back. I remember using it and often the clerk didn’t know what I was doing and was intrigued to see it work.
Very true! I remember having an old Discover card that had it as well. I'm glad the technology has improved though. I think older implementation lacked encryption and tokens, which is now the standard. 🤓
Great video.L ots of great information. thanks
Thanks! Glad the video was helpful. 😊
Great info!
Thanks Seng! Glad the video was useful. 🙂
I had several cards skimmed during a layover in Dubai back in 2012. After I got all the charges sorted out, I moved to a rfid blocking wallet. Haven’t had an issue since, even though I frequently travel. Of course, as the video suggests, most of my cards are now resistant to skimming.
Thanks for sharing your experience! The old version of contactless was definitely less secure. 👍
New cards ain't secure either. Do your research. The only way to prevent getting skimmed is to block the signal entirely. I feel like all the CZcamsrs telling us that we don't need protection are actually skimmers themselves.
Thank you 🙏
Thanks for checking out our video and channel. 😊
OMG. thank you for posting this. There are so many paranoid people that think EMV chip = RFID.
Thanks Darvin! I totally agree. I cringe whenever I hear someone get an RFID wallet for their EMV chip cards. 😊
Yeah i'm going to take advice from someone who starts their comment off with blasphemy...
I work for a bank in the fraud dept... That's all I do. Gas pump skimming and atm skimming is the most popular in the us. I have had a few cases where pocket skimming happened. By far the most popular is gas pump
Very interesting! Thanks for the sharing the insight. I'm curious to see whether pocket skimming becomes a bigger threat in the future.
Wow u showed a Breeze Marta card! I'm in ATL lol Yeah my Tumi RFID wallet keeps me safe - I guess! LOL But with EMV maybe I'm good all around.
So why do these companies sell RFID blocking wallets if it's not as pervasive here in the US?
Ha! I used to travel to Atlanta all the time for work, so I have an entire drawer full of MARTA cards. I think companies have been selling RFID blocking as a feature because there is actual demand from consumers. I know a lot of folks that think that EMV can be radio skimmed, even though it's proven not to work. Also, with contactless payments via mobile phones, the whole payments playing field has become so confusing!
Plus, it's not a bad thing that you have RFID protection -- you never know if contactless cards might make a comeback in the US! I know they are really popular right now in the UK.
I find this funny because spain used to have cards with the chips and they have been moving to contactless more and more over the past years, opposite to the US. And now with the pandemic, everything is contactless. I know people use their phone to pay in the US but people started that here only in March 2020
Yeah, it's strange how the rollout has been inconsistent around the world. It definitely feels like the US is very behind when it comes to payment technologies. 😩
Nice video! I'm from Europe and here is just everybody using contactless payment or younger people Google pay. You can see people put pin only when they withdraw money from ATM. Last times I saw ATMs supporting Google Pay to withdraw money without card. And it's just same almost in whole Europe. I never met personally anybody who got scammed but maybe in Europe it can be deal to have RFID protection 🙂
Thanks Jan! We just got contactless cards in the US in December so it might be time for me to revisit this topic. Though I still have not ever heard of anyone having their information stolen via RFID. 🤓
Great video
Thanks! Glad the video was useful. 😊
How about 2+ RDIF-enabled cards stacked on top of each other, without additional RDF-protection. Can they still be scanned by a thief?
I've heard that the RFID signals clash, but to be honest, I can't say with 100% certainty that the cards can't be read when stacked.
Thanks for the clarification :D
Thanks for checking out our video and channel! 😊
Thanks, saved me from making an unnecessary purchase.
Cool! Glad the video was helpful. 👍
WOW I was about to buy a RFID blocker when I watched your video!
Just one question form Italy, where contactless cards are very common: how easy is to steal money from my credit card?
The first article you link says most of the contactless credit cards are encrypted (second generation), so stealing money this way is almost impossible. Is it?
Glad the video was helpful! I'm not an engineer, but from what I understand, it's fairly difficult for thieves to steal contactless information. Even if they are able to get it, they would need to be able to break encryption. My thinking is that most thieves are probably more likely to try pickpocketing than trying to digitally intercept your credit card information.
Trip Astute I think I’ll wait for a RFID blocker. I usually have my credit card in a wallet that is full of other stuff, and that is inside a pouch.
Furthermore I often use my phone to pay.
Check your cards carefully they could have both. Anyone on CZcams can say different things, however, your best bet is to check and see for yourself!!!!!
Yes, definitely a good idea to DYOR. 👍
It is must, I would advice to check Mani Wonders wallet
Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check it out. 👍
So all contactless cards are vulnerable to skimming? Here in Canada, our cards have EMV chips but are also contactless payment enabled. So they're vulnerable to skimming?
No, I think the latest iteration of contactless cards is much more secure. The early implementation (almost a decade ago) didn’t use tokens. Contactless and mobile payments are much more secure nowadays. 🤓
@@TripAstute good to know
So in Europe, we had emv with stripe long before rfid but now we have all three. 🤔
Europe is much more advanced when it comes to payment methods. We don’t even have chip and PIN in the US (i.e., it’s chip & signature). We still use checks for payments as well! 😄
Yeah, I bought RFID sleeves for all my credit/debit cards and my passport. They were like 20 for $2 on Amazon! And if I _really_ wanted to be cheap I could have made my own sleeves from three-ply aluminium foil!
Ha! Actually, $2 sounds like a great deal! I’m still not convinced that RFID is much of a threat right now, but it’s still not a bad idea to be prepared and safe. 👍
I still prefere contactless pay if under 26$ in EU, I fear more of someone spotting the pin I am entering into the terminal and then beating me outside the pub stealing the card.
Contactless payment is great. I agree with you too -- I think there is much more risk in having your PIN stolen or exposed.
I have recently had my bank start using RFID cards and it may not be necessary I don't take chance and ignore the possibility of being hacked so I have my cards in RFID blocking sleeves which I have tested and proved to be effective and I also have them sandwiched between (2) thin tin sheets that are the exact same size as the cards from a company called safe keeper that also prove to be effective in blocking RFID transmissions. And I don't have to worry about whether or not my wallet is effective in blocking RFID or not.
Is it necessary? I don't know, but why find out the hard way?
Good point. Better safe than sorry! 👍
I think new cards are contactless EMV. Thus no info to skim.
Yeah, my understanding is that the new contactless doesn't transmit the actual card number (like the old system). It's more of a token that needs to be matched on the issuer side to work, so it's less easy to use even if intercepted.
my bank moved tap and pay in 2020 and no opt out
Yeah, I’ve seen some people online cut out the chip, but I think it’s not worth the effort! 😄
I leave in EUROPE now, and I found really convenience to have an use contactless, you can active or not , I use my phone 99% all the time, without my card be present, that means is easy to live the rest of the card at home, in the phone I have no maximum purchase to need the pin, like €60 should be the max without pin but in my phone if I use my for €120 not ask me for my pin, because the iPhone pass over with your face recognition
I agree. Contactless and mobile payments are amazing. I love using Apple Pay whenever I can. It makes it so much easier for US travelers who since we still use chip and signature for a lot of transactions, which is always awkward when traveling. 😄
Trip Astute thanks for taking time to answering me, now I cannot miss any videos from you. 🙏🏻
You can get a decent rfid wallet for £10-£25. If you're paying 80+ bucks for a wallet, the 'cost' of having it rfid protected is a non issue. Good, informative video otherwise.
Thanks! 😊
NOT ME! I REFUSE!
Ha! It's definitely a bit scary to have all our information available via RFID. 😬
Every one of my credit cards has the RFID symbol and it’s 2023.😐
Contactless payments is now standard in the US (and many parts of the world). That being said, I haven't heard of card information theft over contactless being an issue.
isnt RFID different from NFC? we use NFC in europe not RFID
Yes, they are different. NFC is a more evolved standard and process. I believe that the Tap and Pay cards use NFC, but passports still use RFID (though I could wrong ... I'm definitely not an engineer!). 😊
I will say that about a week ago someone stole my card from RFID scanning so apparently I must be walking around with these people. If you are going to South Carolina / Myrtle Beach or travelling there, my friends, I am personally warning you that RFID crime is popular here and you should definitely have a blocker for this state specifically. Can't speak for anything else but it happened to me and it could happen to anyone.
Wow, thanks for sharing. I've never heard of anyone actually having this happen. Hopefully, it's not a trend! 😬
@@TripAstute Yeah, it's crazy! I think the reason why is because a lot of old people live around here and they line their wallets with 20+ random cards, eventually you get one capable of RFID.
If I may also add that "contactless pay" is resurfacing as very popular down here, I got a card from TD and it is RFID enabled. No way to opt out because they print with this. I asked a cashier how many times she saw contactless pay cards and she told me that it is becoming more popular. Sounds like companies started using them again due to the popularity of RFID wallets and the removal of an RFID-blocking premium.
@HN Because all of my closer friend's cards are RFID enabled, and if you wish to see if one is enabled simply check if it has Tap to Pay or Tap Pay, Touch Pay, Pay n Go, etc. I asked my bank (TD) why they decided to do Tap Pay, they said it's just how they are printed - with these extra features (the bank in my area has a card printer.) While I'm the only one who has gotten RFID hacked, it's not particularly hard to hack RFID, so it could become more popular again.
If you meant how I know I got RFID hacked... because my information was sold online after it got scanned in real life... on a card I haven't used online aside from Paypal and Amazon on a PC that plays Steam games and browses the internet - and Paypal and Amazon has had no notable breaches at the time - and hasn't really had any of note since Heartbleed. I can't ship my PC for you to examine personally for rats, but considering the purchase that was blocked was 32 pounds of gummy bears in a completely different state and was made with my debit card which was not present there (and my debit card would've denied it anyway because it had nine dollars) you're going to need to think about it for yourself.
@HN It would be hard to considering I dont have a car therefore I dont get gas. While possible for it to have been ATM related, this wasnt reported en masse so I significantly doubt this. All Ive got is my word and it not happening after I got RFID protection. So either don't use ATMs in SC or protect your cards. Either way.
Okay, I'm relieved. Not gonna buy rfid blocker items.
Yeah, it's probably unnecessary at the moment. That may change in the future, but for now, RFID skimming seems much more difficult to thieves than just pickpocketing! 😄
Can I just line my jacket pocket with tin foil?
That would probably work just as well. 😄
@@TripAstute Thanks. Not sure how I'm going to get it to stick on the inside of my pocket tho
What about RFID Chip in their hand? That’s easier to skim off of.
You can get all these protection stuff from Amazon but where does Amazon get 99% of their stuff from China? Do you really want to buy something from Amazon that China made?
It's a valid point! 🤔
It doesn’t hurt to have the extra security
He's cute, I know irrelevant to the topic.
This is the microchip and the back of these is 666
Who the hell except America would prefer to not use contact free pay payments hahaha omg. But then again they did vote in trump.
This video didn't age very well.
Hmm. Is RFID is real risk now? I have yet to meet anyone who has had their cards stolen using skimming. Though maybe it is a real threat now?!?
@@TripAstute sorry for the misunderstanding. There doesn't seem to be a real risk, however this video seems to suggest that contactless payments are being phased out, yet if anything, they become the norm in the past few years especially. And skimming seems to be incredibly difficult since one would need real-time access to the card and the POS at the same time. You can't just "copy" the contents of a credit card by reading its RFID signal, and then use the card later. One would need to man-in-the-middle for this to work, and even then you can't read the contents, just pass them through. And while this would allow an attacker to impersonate someone, credit cards would normally require authorisation above ~$40 or some configurable amount, usually the bank would let you chose via some app. This can be pin-entry for physical cards or biometric authorisation for those "virtual" credit cards used by phones.
So in general, I don't think people really need RFID protection, you're right, but it's not because we don't use contactless any more, and I also wouldn't ask my bank to issue non-contactless cards. Heck, even the debit cards seem to be contactless nowadays. So the advice to request non-RFID cards is something I wouldn't agree with.
*Nervously shakes in european..*
🤔
Stay away from this garbage.
VERY GOOD INFORMATION
Thanks! Glad the video was helpful and useful. 👍