On 02-Sep-15 12:05 PM, Steve W. wrote:
Kluge wrote:
On 02-Sep-15 8:22 AM, Joe Gwinn wrote:
In article , Tom Gardner
wrote:

See ads for wallets that prevent skimming credit cards? Are those
considered Faraday cages? I was thinking I could laminate some AL foil
the size of credit cards and have one on top and bottom of the stack of
cards in my wallet to do the job. Sound feasible?
Credit cards require physical contact, be it swiping the magnetic
stripe or communicating with the chip within. Neither is RFID, and so
cannot be skimmed from a distance.

Passports are quite another matter. They very much can be read from
ten or twenty feet. I'm not sure how important it is to prevent this,
but a sheet of 0.003" thick brass shimstock foil folded into the
passport completely prevents this. This costs maybe a dollar.

It is not necessary to enclose the passport. So long as the foil is
close to the antenna coil in the passport, it shorts the local field
out quite well.

If the foil is not removed, not even the legit reader at passport
control works. The officers at passport control do not get excited
about this - just remove the piece of shimstock, and put it back in the
passport later.

Joe Gwinn



Credit cards in Australia have all three interfaces - wireless, chip
contacts & mag stripe. All three are operable and are used.

Same in the US. I have two cards with all three systems.


The "pay-wave" or "touch-n-go" payment method is warmly embraced by
thieves who clock up as much as they can before the card is cancelled.