Things to Know About the Chip in Your Passport?

QUESTION:   Will the electronic passport chip that I recently got be hacked into? I do not want anyone skimming information off my electronic passport.

ANSWER:   Passport cards, electronic passport chip, as well as e-passports are design with RFID chips. These documents will work as more of a benefit as opposed to a disadvantage for a traveler. With the RFID chip, a traveler is able to use a “ready lane” at a airport when crossing borders. The ready lane has a machine to read the chip on your passport. The chip on the passport has information such as the traveler’s biographical information and passport photograph information. Therefore, when a traveler is crossing a border, it is much quicker and easier for them to get through the long lines that are usually at airports for port entry into a country.

Furthermore, the electronic passport chip is rising with the upcoming years. The chips are far more efficient for reasons including, ease of use, promptness, and security. The type of chip that is in the passport is a RFID chip. The passport is safe from the theft of the passport holder’s identity. This is because the chip comes with a protective sleeve that protects the information that is on the chip from skimmers.

What is Skimming?

Skimming is a way for someone to retrieve information of an electronic chip. That information is use to steal another person’s identity. RFID chips are hard to decode. These chips are design to protect the information on them and from skimmers.