Our Labs
The Information Security Group develops some pratical RFID-tools for its research purposes, for pointing out weaknesses in practical solutions, or just for fun. Below are some examples of such tools.
Biometric passports aka ePassport possess a microchip that embeds personal data on the owner and can be remotely read at a distance of 10 cm with a common reader. Standard Doc9303 issued by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) includes the use of cryptographic means to prevent unauthorized remote access to this information. The GSI has been working on the ePassport some several years. It first worked on the Belgian passport in collaboration with the UCL's crypto group (see this abstract), and more recently Jean-François Houzard and Olivier Roger, two Master students implemented a Python API (pyPassport) that allows everyone to read his/her passport. They also provided a GUI (ePassport Viewer) based on this API. More….
Brussels' public transportation company (STIB) launched in 2008 a ticketing system (MOBIB) based on a contactless technology (Radio Frequency IDentification) that will eventually replace the former system based on magnetic strip cards. MOBIB relies on the Calypso standard that is already used by more than 20 countries. In 2009, the Information Security Group got a particular interest for the MOBIB card. More…