Contactless cards pose privacy risk

Most newly issued credit cards pose major fraud and privacy concerns because they're designed to be scanned through the air, some cyber-security experts warn, states CBC News.

Contactless credit cards have an embedded RFID tag and when waved near a payment terminal, the chip supplies the card's number and expiry date through radio waves. That's the first problem, says US cyber-security expert, Pablos Holman.

Anyone can buy an RFID credit card reader online and start scanning cards in public - without cardholders knowing. "It's not encrypted, which is not what we were expecting. It's really easy to read. ... Now you can get a generic RFID reader and use open-source programs available on the Web and read cards," explains Holman.

Denver, in the US, has introduced an RFID-enabled bicycle project to provide commuters and tourists zero-emission transportation, says NFC News.

The B-cycle project is equipped with 500 bikes, with more than 50 RFID-enabled B-stations throughout the city.

The initiative has plans in the pipeline to add a phone-based application for mobile phones equipped with near field communication modules to access B-cycles at the stations.

The Nokia Research Centre is working on an RFID ultra wideband project that provides data transfer speeds of 112Mbps, states Rethink Wireless.

The circuit has been implemented in a prototype data exchange system called Nokia Explore and Share.

Telefonica O2 is close on the heels of Nokia and plans to be the first mobile operator with commercial payment services using contactless technology such as near field communications.