Technology
RFID Protection:
Modern technology at its best helps to makes people’s lives easier and better. The downside to moving into a “Digital Age” is that it also makes it easier for criminals to steal a person’s information.
With around 200 million credit cards in circulation that have RFID chips embedded into them, and that number expected to grow in the coming years, it’s amazing that the majority of wallets that are being used have zero protection against RFID theft.
It's quite easy these days for a person to be able to purchase an RFID scanner for less than $100 and with a little computer savvy, start pulling information off of RFID embedded credit cards and ID’s (also known as skimming) without ever having to physically touch a single wallet or purse – and the victim wouldn’t even know that it had happened until much later. While credit card companies are adamant that “their” cards cannot be hacked (and they’d never lie right?), there have been real life instances of skimming theft. The Discovery channel’s Mythbusters learned very quickly that the major credit card companies do not want people to know about the possible security issues with RFID chips.
Even if you don’t have an RFID credit card, the technology is finding its way into driver’s licenses and ID’s. New York, Michigan, Washington, and Vermont are just some of the states that currently issue enhanced driver’s licenses (EDL’s), while Minnesota, North Dakota, Idaho, New Hampshire, Maine, Arizona, Texas, and New Mexico are expected to start issuing EDL’s in the near future. Canada offers EDL’s in British Columbia, Manitoba, Ontario, and Quebec; and last year Germany began issuing RFID embedded ID cards.
The HuMn Wallet (aluminum & carbon fiber models) is made to protect your credit cards and ID’s from being scanned unknowingly, while keeping everything secure and organized in a stylishly minimal design.