A post relating to this item from Finextra:
23 June, 2008
Security fears raised over London Oyster card
New fears have been raised about the security of London's contactless Oyster travel card after Dutch scientists managed to use a cloned card to travel around on the city's underground for free.
NXP's attempts to block publication of a research paper detailing alleged security weaknesses in the Mifare chips used in Transport for London's Oyster smart cards has backfired somewhat.
The manufacturer of the contactless transit cards applied for an injunction to suppress the research after Prof Bart Jacobs and colleagues from Radboud University claimed to have successfully cloned an Oyster card and used it to travel for free on London's
Tube network.
The injunction has now been overturned by a Dutch court which cited local freedom of expression laws.
The sting in the tail comes from the court's statement on its ruling: "Damage to NXP is not the result of the publication of the article but of the production and sale of a chip that appears to have shortcomings."
Ouch!
I wonder what
Barclays and
Citibank make of it all?