Oyster card cloning fears

My Account
Logout

Create an Evening Standard Account

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Welcome! Sign in here

Use your social network

Save time by using your existing account to sign in to Evening Standard

We'll never share your information or post anything to your account without your permission

Forgot your password ?

Registration

* indicates fields that are mandatory

Email *

Password *

Confirm Password *

First name *

Surname *

Postcode *

Country *

Mobile phone number

Username *

Gender *

Year of birth *

When you sign up...

You will have access to all our online competitions, discounted offers and can post comments on our site.

You will also receive The Weekender newsletter sent every Thursday - it’s full of fantastic offers and ideas for the weekend. You can update your email preferences in your account page when you log in.

Other newsletters and emails

Homes & Property Newsletter - Yes I want to receive the weekly email with all the latest news on property in the capital

Occasionally we would also like to send you relevant emails detailing specific offers either from ourselves or carefully selected partners. If you would prefer not to receive these then please tick the appropriate boxes below. We will never pass on your details.

I do not want to receive additional offers and information from the Evening Standard

I do not want to receive additional offers and information sent by Evening Standard on behalf of carefully selected partners

Terms and Conditions

* I have read, understood and agree to be bound by the terms and conditions of Evening Standard

Registration

Mail Sent for Registration Confirmation.

A confirmation email has been sent. Please activate your account by clicking on the activation link sent in your mail box.

German computer engineering students behind the discovery claim any of the 10 million Oyster cards in circulation could now be cloned in under 10 minutes using a standard PC and card reader.

The cloned cards could then be used by fraudsters to travel free.

The discovery has forced the Dutch government, which uses a similar card, to issue a security warning. Government institutions plan to take " additional security measures to safeguard security", said Guusje ter Horst, minister of interior affairs.

The technology used in the Oyster card, called the Mifare Classic RFID (radio frequency identification) chip, is used in a billion passes worldwide and is manufactured by a Netherlands company called NXP, founded by electronics giant Philips. The company said it was "taking these claims very seriously".

A spokesman added: "NXP has established an open dialogue with the researchers and is evaluating possible attacks." Two separate research teams have claimed to have broken the card's security.

German researchers Karsten Nohl and Henryk Pltz, who first hacked parts of the chip last December, this week published a paper demonstrating a way to crack the chip's encryption technology. Mr Nohl, a PhD candidate in computer engineering at Virginia University, said: "I don't want to help attackers, but I want to inform people about the vulnerabilities of these cards."

A second team, led by Bart Jacobs, an information security professor at the Radboud University in Nijmegen, has also published hacking details. However, Transport for London said today it was confident it would be able to spot cloned cards. A spokesman said: "All Oyster information is fully encrypted and we have adopted extra security measures on top of that available on the source chips."