A German computer security consultant has shown that he can clone the electronic passports that the United States and other countries are beginning to distribute this year. The controversial e-passports contain radio frequency ID, or RFID, chips that the U.S. State Department and others say will help thwart document forgery. But Lukas Grunwald, a security consultant with DN-Systems in Germany and an RFID expert, says the data in the chips is easy to copy.

“The whole passport design is totally brain damaged,” Grunwald says. “From my point of view all of these RFID passports are a huge waste of money. They’re not increasing security at all.”

Grunwald plans to demonstrate the cloning technique Thursday at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas. Full Article Via Wired