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Researchers create device that opens hotel doors with old key cards
Researchers at cybersecurity firm F-Secure have designed a device that can pull data off of hotel key cards and essentially create a master key for an entire hotel. Alarmingly, the key card doesn't even have to be currently in use. The device can steal data from the card whether it's functional or expired and can give the user access to pretty much any room in the hotel in just a matter of minutes. "It can be your own room key, a cleaning staff key, even to the garage or workout facility," F-Secure's Tomi Tuominen told Gizmodo. "We can even do it in an elevator if you have your key in your front pocket; we can just clone it from there."
Onity rolling out safeguards against hotel keycard hacks, may fix some locks outright
Mozilla staffer Cody Brocious' discovery of a quick (if imperfect) hack for hotel door locks raised alarms at the prospect that thieves could slip into rooms moments after plugging in a rogue device. The keycard system's creator, Onity, suggested in August that any solutions beyond capping the data port would cost a fee, and there wasn't a definite roadmap in place. The firm has more lately been looking to make things right. Officially, it's planning to give every affected hotel the caps over the "next several weeks," free as promised. Forbes understands that Onity may be going the extra mile, however. Reportedly leaked memos from Hyatt, the InterContinental Hotels Group and Marriott have the lock firm charging $11 per door to ship boards with hack-resistant firmware, but refunding that price as soon as it receives old boards, effectively offering a permanent fix for free. Some hotels outside of North America may not have to take even that last step. The only gotcha is a supposed requirement that hotels agree locks aren't hack-proof -- in short, please don't sue us. We've reached out for confirmation of this more extensive solution, but any truth to it would put the threat of keycard system hacks on ice for at least awhile.
Samsung Galaxy S III replaces check-in, keycard, TV remote and AC control in Olympic hotel
Samsung has turned the Galaxy S III into the ultimate hotel accessory in preparation for the Olympics. It's equipped 40 rooms in London's Stratford Holiday Inn to use the official smartphone of 2012 to check in and out, order room service, unlock doors and control the TV without moving. VIPs staying at the hotel for the games season will get first dibs on the technology that'll let them call up a snack whilst tweeting -- just as long as Cody Brocious doesn't work out how to intercept it.
Assa Abloy developing NFC-enabled key cards for BlackBerry handsets, locked doors
The BlackBerry of the future may just unlock new doors -- literally. This week, RIM inked a new partnership with Sweden's own Assa Abloy, the company behind those NFC-enabled door locks we've seen in recent years. In a statement released Tuesday, Assa Abloy said it was working with the handset manufacturer to develop similar key card technology for the BlackBerry Bold 9900 and 9930, as well as the BlackBerry Curve 9350 and 9360. According to the company, the idea is to allow BlackBerry users to enter corporate facilities using only their handsets, thereby replacing traditional access cards, though the technology could also be incorporated into residential buildings or garage doors. This would marks the first time that Assa Abloy has implemented its NFC systems into a mobile system, though the firm pointed out that its deal with RIM isn't exclusive, suggesting that similar arrangements with other manufacturers may be in the pipeline.
Freecom's Hard Drive Secure for the businessman paranoid
It might be a butchering of English grammar -- the adjective typically goes before the noun -- but the Hard Drive Secure does have a pretty unique selling point to offer. The USB 2.0 drive's security is handled by AES-encrypted RFID keycards -- swiping the card once unlocks the drive, swiping it again locks it back up. Using similar technology to London's Oyster Card, we trust Freecom has made sure their new device is not susceptible to the Mifare hack that exposed vulnerabilities in previous RFID systems. Though not yet available to purchase, the aluminum-enclosed HDD will retail for between $119 for the 500GB version and $409 for the 2TB behemoth, while in Euroland prices will range between €99 and €349.[Via Bit Tech]
