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Armadillo Dollar Product Review on Security Blog |
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Written by Webmaster
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"Satisified With RFID Skimming Protection (Product Review)" A couple weeks ago, I purchased online the Armadillo Dollar "skimming" shield product. I ordered two shields and both arrived in separate business-size envelopes within a larger U.S.P.S. Express Mail package. Each envelope included a shield and instructions. That makes it easy to give the second shield as a gift. I opened one envelope and read the instructions, which were clear and simple. The instructions said that you could place the Armadillo Dollar product in your wallet to protect multiple RFID cards, often referred to as "smart cards" or contact-less credit cards. I folded one Armadillo Dollar product in half, placed two contact-less smart cards inside, and then placed the bundle in my pants pocket. I don't want to open my wallet every time I need to use one of my RFID cards. I planned to test Armadillo Dollar the next day on the way to work. One the way to work the next morning, I pulled the Armadillo Dollar and my RFID cards out of my pocket and waived them near an RFID reader at a Boston MBTA station entrance. Nothing happened: the turnstile did not open. The RFID reader was unable to penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. Great! Then, I removed my MBTA Charlie Card by itself and waved it by the station's reader. The turnstile opened as usual. At work, I repeated this process at the the downtown-Boston office where I work. Employees use RFID badges to access both the building elevators and individual company offices. As expected, the RFID reader was unable to penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. I then removed my employee badge by itself and waved it the RFID reader. The turnstile opened as expected. While this isn't a scientific test, it is good enough for me. The product works as advertised... RFID readers couldn't penetrate the Armadillo Dollar shield. Wisteria House fulfilled my product order as requested, and applied the product discount as promised. I am satisfied since I now have some identity protection for my RFID cards. When I receive my new RFID U.S. Passport, I'll repeat this test with the Armadillo Dollar shield. Want to learn more? This video provides some background about RFID or smart cards and "skimming"... how an identity thieve can clone a smart card: Want to learn more? Read this New York Times article about no-swipe credit cards, or this C/Net Review about contact-less credit cards. You can also visit the Smart Card Alliance, armadillodollar.com, or the National Envelope web sites. [Author's note: you can rely on I've Been Mugged for independent product reviews. The I've Been Mugged blog is wholly independent, and is not affiliated with any identity theft or identity protection products. Nor do we accept any advertising or payments from manufacturers of identity theft products or services.] |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 February 2009 23:51 )
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Security Expert Tests and Blogs about the AD |
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Written by Webmaster
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http://ivebeenmugged.typepad.com/my_weblog/2008/01/wireless-identi.html Security Expert ordered Armadillo Dollar and blogged about us on his security blog. We did not know he was going to do so, but were very pleased with his results. Many of us already have Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) cards in our wallets or purses. You have an RFID card if it's a card that you wave near (about 2 inches) a wall- or table-mounted reader. RFID cards are supposedly easier to use because the RFID card and the RFID reader don't have to physically touch. They just have to be close enough -- a few inches -- for the reader to access the information stored on the RFID card. Some credit cards, debit cards, and store charge cards are RFID cards. I have two RFID cards. One is the security badge to enter the office building and my employer's offices. The second is my Charlie Card to ride Boston's MBTA mass-transit system. When I worked in London in 2004, my Tube pass was an RFID card. While I realize that RFID is here to stay, I am not wildly excited about the technology because it's security gaps are well known, and are dependent upon the issuer properly encrypting the sensitive personal data stored on each RFID card. Identity thieves can use a portable RFID reader to collect personal data from unsuspecting RFID cardholders: a process called a "skimming." The thieves can then create, use, and sell duplicate, bogus RFID cards. And, it's almost impossible for the average user to know when an identity thief has used a skimmer to steal your personal data from an RFID card. With this in mind, I was curious to read this TrustedID blog post: "Armadillo Dollar, a new product created by Wisteria House Products, offers protection against this new wireless identity theft and RFID monitoring. Users place the product in their wallet, and it blocks the transmission of sensitive private information from RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) enabled debit/credit cards or employee badges. The user can move around undetected by RFID readers, and wireless identity thieves."
If you want to learn more about the RFID technology, read the RFID Journal, the RFID blog, or visit armadillodollar.com. I haven't yet tried the Armadillo Dollar product, so I can't speak to how effective it is. If any I've Been Mugged readers already use the product, please share your experiences. |
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Last Updated ( Thursday, 19 February 2009 23:52 )
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WHP Team shares vulnerabilities with Glendale |
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Written by Webmaster
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 July 7, 2008 - Glendale Police Department officers invited the Armadillo Dollar team to their Community Identity Theft Forum, for officers, and the public in Glendale, Arizona. Wireless and contact less identity theft is a specialty subject, and Wisteria House Products Armadillo Dollar team are experts. They took the stage immediately following Arizona Maricopa County Attorney's Bureau Chief Maryann McKessy, who spoke on analog identity theft precautions.
Travis Merrick and Catherine Leyen, of Wisteria House Products, (the Armadillo Dollar developers,) spoke about radio-frequency theft, identity theft involving wireless applications, WiFi theft from laptops, unsecured WiFi access points, wireless keyboards, cordless phones, and many other wireless vulnerabilities.
Many attending had never heard of wireless theft, and were intrigued from what the Armadillo team shared about wireless computer theft, RF identity theft and many other ways invisible theft can occur.
Arizona ranks first in the nation in identity theft. Most officers in the theft divisions take as many as 12-15 identity theft case reports a day! Many of their victims have told them they have no idea how their identities had been stolen. Several individuals in the audience were from the computer division of the Glendale Police Dept and confirmed what was being shared by the AD team. |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 02 January 2009 21:42 )
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WHP Team Instructs Police Conference |
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Written by Webmaster
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June 24, 2008 - Vickie Owen of the Gilbert Police Dept contacted Wisteria House Products (the Armadillo Dollar) team to find out more about radio-frequency theft. After she had done exhaustive research on her own, she wanted to demonstrate how easy it was to “skim” an identity from the RF tagged credit card she had ordered from a local bank. The Armadillo Dollar team was invited to attend and inform at an educational session to be held for local Mesa and Gilbert police officers at the Mesa Police Compound on June 24, 2008. Vickie spoke about Radio-Frequency technology and showed a strong PowerPoint demonstrating that RF tags are everywhere. She then invited the Armadillo Dollar team, (Wisteria House Products, LLC) members Catherine Leyen and Travis Merrick to speak to the group about the newest kind of RF theft, radio-frequency skimming and wireless theft.
The team shared their knowledge about the vulnerabilities of radio-frequency use with the attending officers and shared the news specials that had been aired about their new protective devices. They discussed the vulnerabilities of using unsecured WiFi with laptop computers, giving out personal information on cordless phones with base stations, wireless nanny cams, wireless keyboards, and about the potential for identity theft with so many of the new RF tagged debit and credit cards, door access cards, and the new REAL ID driver’s licenses to be issued. During one of the news specials, a bank vice-president had stated that he had not seen any of the RF theft of the kind that the Armadillo Dollar was designed to protect against. His comment brought a lighthearted chuckle from the attending officers who laughed at his comment. We were told some officers were taking 12 -15 ID theft reports a day! Many of those victims had no idea how their identity was stolen. The Armadillo Dollar team discovered the afore-mentioned bank had purchased their own RF shield company four days after the CBS special aired. The discussion then traversed into the serious vulnerabilities of wireless internet use, and how many victims have possibly lost their identity and banking information through improper unsecured use of WiFi with their laptops. Vickie Owen mentioned that there is a banking commercial playing that talks about secure internet banking, but shows a woman on a sofa with a laptop doing her banking!
Travis elaborated on the multiple ways a wireless hacker can steal an individual's vital information. Browsers can be "wijacked", fake routers can be setup that copy every keystroke, e-mails and banking passwords can be stolen and even illicit porn can be uploaded onto your hard-drive, and the victim would never even know it! Wisteria House Products informed the officers on how they offer solutions to these potentially serious problems. They started another security division called WStealth Wifi Wizards (WStealth.com). |
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Last Updated ( Friday, 02 January 2009 21:33 )
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WHP Team meets National RFID Celeb |
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Written by Webmaster
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December 2007 - Catherine Leyen, CEO of Wisteria House Products, the developers, inventors and makers of the Armadillo Dollar, had the distinct pleasure of meeting Dr. Katherine Albrecht with her Armadillo Dollar creation team, Ron Hatton and Travis Merrick. Dr. Albrecht, co-author of SPYCHIPS, the tell-all book about RFID use and the creation of the internet of things, explains how all things will eventually be tagged with RF (radio-frequency) tags, which can be read remotely by readers for tracking purposes. This currently happens with most items on store shelves, but the powers that be want it to include RF tags in citizens and people. Dr. Albrecht has founded an organization called CASPIAN (Citizens Against Supermarket Privacy Invasion and Numbering). Her goal is to educate individuals about the extensive use and misuse of RFID and RF tags for information gathering against the human population. ( http://www.nocards.org/ Currently, the DOD and Wal-Mart both have $100 million initiatives to tag all items with RF so they can be tracked from supplier to buyer and out the door. Did you know Bell South has been issued a patent for a reader that can read the garbage for the trucks as they pick up your waste? Marketers will then not only know what you bought, where you bought it, but how long it took you to use it up. Would you consider this a violation of your privacy? Be careful when you use those store loyalty cards, most will track your purchases and your usages. What purpose might this have? As Dr. Albrecht explains in her book SPYCHIPS, this could allow insurance companies to follow your purchasing profile. If you are diabetic, yet you buy too much sugary items, they will take your money until you need coverage from them. At which point, they could point to your history of purchases and decline your insurance. This could apply to alcohol, over the counter drugs, and anything else. Everything in moderation as they say, but who has the right to monitor you?  |
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Last Updated ( Tuesday, 03 March 2009 12:18 )
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