Passports

[sparks1093]

10 minutes ago, wowzz said:

Normally it's the other way round. Abnormal expenditure is highlighted by the credit card company, which will block my card until I release it. 

I consider that to be a back up.🙂

[sanger727]

23 minutes ago, calliopecruiser said:

Oh, so you also don't mind insurance fraud because it costs everybody extra, and not just you.  I get it.  Since the financial companies are paying for it, you don't care.  

 

It is so frustrating that you're either being selfish or blissfully uninformed.....I'm not sure which.

 

 

 

cool you jets a bit. If you have ever used your card online you have given information out into a database that lists all the info needed for someone to misuse your credit card. Those databases get hacked constantly. Experian was just hacked so tons of people had information leaked that is sufficient to steal their identity. A little sleeve that protects someone from stealing the information when they would have to be inches away from you is the least of your worries in this technological age of online shopping, online bill pay, and phones and accounts that store your credit card info for you. 

[sparks1093]

29 minutes ago, calliopecruiser said:

Yeah, sadly, it is -- passport information can easily get other information, which gets other information, etc, etc......

 

 

 

 

27 minutes ago, calliopecruiser said:

Oh, so you also don't mind insurance fraud because it costs everybody extra, and not just you.  I get it.  Since the financial companies are paying for it, you don't care.  

 

It is so frustrating that you're either being selfish or blissfully uninformed.....I'm not sure which.

 

 

How'd we get on insurance fraud? I do take precautions with my information but at the same time I don't worry about it overly much. 

[wowzz]

38 minutes ago, calliopecruiser said:

Yeah, sadly, it is -- passport information can easily get other information, which gets other information, etc, etc......

 

 

I'm not sure how passport information actually gets you anything?

[sparks1093]

4 minutes ago, wowzz said:

I'm not sure how passport information actually gets you anything?

There are easier and less expensive ways to get the info. As mentioned the data on the passport is encrypted and that technology is expensive and probably outside the ken of most thieves. 

[wowzz]

6 minutes ago, sparks1093 said:

There are easier and less expensive ways to get the info. As mentioned the data on the passport is encrypted and that technology is expensive and probably outside the ken of most thieves. 

Absolutely agree, and the information you can get from the passport is, in itself, worthless.

[Philob]

1 hour ago, calliopecruiser said:

True.......and that's why I don't understand why most of the US hasn't adopted the mPOS credit card readers so that your credit card doesn't leave your possession.  (Thinking back to the days when our cards were whisked away by a waiter to an unseen location, and only returned later with the cheque.)

Primary reason is called $$$,  it costs the merchant $ to get the new system and the credit card folks $ to get with the system in place.  Also one is waiting for the other, merchants won't do it until the credit card folks says they'll do it and the credit card folks are waiting for enough merchants to want it.   Heck they only started the "tap" a few years ago and it took the Target breach to get things going.

[new_cruiser]

1 hour ago, wowzz said:

Normally it's the other way round. Abnormal expenditure is highlighted by the credit card company, which will block my card until I release it. 

We've experienced both. Most times, the credit card company has caught it. But we have had at least once where they didn't identify the bad charges and we had to tell them. 

I haven't noticed any increase in the rate of this happening post RFID.

[sparks1093]

2 minutes ago, new_cruiser said:

We've experienced both. Most times, the credit card company has caught it. But we have had at least once where they didn't identify the bad charges and we had to tell them. 

I haven't noticed any increase in the rate of this happening post RFID.

Yep. I've had personal information stolen several times in the past couple of years and every time it was information that was stored in someone else's database. I think I recall reading about Marriott's system being hacked an a bunch of passport numbers being compromised. 

[new_cruiser]

22 hours ago, flyingron said:

Nope, all the data is there.   Again, the passport cover itself is RFID shielded.  The RFID chip should only be readable when you unfold the book.    Further, it's not like reading the stripe on a credit card.    There's an interaction between the reader and the chip that is not likely to be casually spoofed.

The reader above reads a different kind of RFID data than the passport.   The ones above are commonly used for things like runners in marathons, your proximity door cards, etc...

 

This.

 

Pre-RFID, the picture page was the cover of the passport and the covers were relatively thin. When they went to RFID, they moved the picture to a separate page and the covers are beefier because of RFID shield. My Global entry card came with a shield sleeve.

 

Discussion about whether the info is useful is beside the point. It's already shielded when the passport is shut.

[SRF]

3 hours ago, flyingron said:

Despite what the scammers selling RFID wallets will have you believe, your card is almost always going to be compromised at a point of use rather than by some RFID "skimming" threat.   Similarly, you hand over the passport to underpaid and unvetted airline, hotel, and other travel people (let alone foreign government agents without authority).    You probably typed the information into the cruise website, and if some of the lines I'm familiar with areany indication, the sites are so poorly implemented that your data has already been compromised.

 

 

Heck, in many countries, the hotel makes a copy of your passport data page.

[Ferry_Watcher]

On 12/25/2019 at 10:36 AM, cruiseDH22 said:

I am concerned about passport security with the RFID chip

 

Sometime ago I read that you make your passport or credit card secure by making an aluminum foil pocket for it.

 

I have done this with our passports. A heavy aluminum foil pocket, or sleeve, for the passport.

 

We just cruised and I noticed one of the security people either getting on the ship or in the tsa check in-line was extremely amused by my envelope.

 

Am I making a fool out of myself by using this, or is this a legitimate security effort to protect my passport from being electronically read?

 

I work at Seattle's  Pier 91, and upon entering the terminal building passengers have to show their passports (or other appropriate valid ID documentation)   Last season I had a passenger who did not want to take out his passport of it's protective sleeve because he didn't want his information picked up by any nefarious means.   He was quite insistent, but I had to tell him that he could not proceed until I saw his passport.  He relented, but very reluctantly. 

[flyingron]

I use my TWIC card for most security checkpoints.   Amusingly they did know what it was when I used it for the TSA checkpoint a the Roswell NM airport (they say they don't see many there).     The only place it was declined was DCA, but upon inquiry I got a nice apology from the station chief letting me know the agent in question had been 'retrained.'

 

 

[mayleeman]

@flyingron Interesting that you ran into people whose job might require knowing what a TWIC card is but didn't know.

 

Would you please enlighten those of us who have absolutely no idea what it is?

 

Thanks!  🤔

Edited December 27, 2019 by mayleeman

[calliopecruiser]

1 hour ago, mayleeman said:

Would you please enlighten those of us who have absolutely no idea what it is?

I had to look it up too:  " The Transportation Worker Identification Credential, also known as TWIC^®, is required by the Maritime Transportation Security Act for workers who need access to secure areas of the nation’s maritime facilities and vessels. "  https://www.tsa.gov/for-industry/twic

 

[K32682]

On 12/26/2019 at 1:44 PM, SRF said:

 

Heck, in many countries, the hotel makes a copy of your passport data page.

 

Depending on the country, hotels make copies, car rental agencies make copies, casinos make copies, banks make copies, currency exchanges make copies among others.  Putting a tin foil suit on your passport seems a bit silly. 

[Hlitner]

I can understand the concerns about RFID chips in credit cards.  As to Passports we are very careful with those documents because they have a lot of value to us (if you ever lose a Passport you will quickly realize why).  But protecting their micro RFID chip is not even an issue for us.  The encrypted info on that chip is simply the same info on the main Passport page which is nothing I would be concerned about being disclosed.  There is no social security number, address info, etc.  Just not a biggie.  I can get more info on anyone online.

 

Hank

[cruiseDH22]

2 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

 Putting a tin foil suit on your passport seems a bit silly. 

 

And the tin hat on my head!

[SRF]

14 hours ago, K32682 said:

 

Depending on the country, hotels make copies, car rental agencies make copies, casinos make copies, banks make copies, currency exchanges make copies among others.  Putting a tin foil suit on your passport seems a bit silly. 

 

My thoughts exactly.

 

About the only personal info on it is your birthdate.  And many people post that on FB. 😄