Is It Possible To Clone VeriChip?

Filed in archive Privacy and Security on July 27, 2006

VeriChip claims that its RFID chips cannot be counterfeited but this claim has been busted by hackers who have gone ahead and demonstrated how a human implanted RFID chip could be cloned at a hacking conference. This demonstration is in contrast to VeriChip's claim that its technology could uniquely identify an individual.

If the chip gets cloned it might be possible to assume another person's identity in conditions where VeriChip devices were used as the only means of identification. The main thing which could come against these attacks is the range - these chips can only be read at a range less than thirty cm.

The presentation was held at the Hackers on Planet Earth (HOPE) conference in New York in which Jonathan Westhues showed how the ID number of a VeriChip implanted in the arm of his colleague could be read using a standard RFID reader, antenna and a laptop running signal processing software.

The RFID Reader was first held against his colleague's arm and then the tiny device was scanned again using an antenna connected to his laptop in order to record the signal transmitted by the implanted device. The RFID reader was then waved by the antenna which revealed the unique ID. The hackers claimed that this information was more than enough to manufacture a cloned chip.

This is again going to raise questions against this technology which as we have seen is always in the firing line. If found correct VeriChip would have a hard time marketing RFID.