[ale] OT Fwd: Dc404-Chat New smart locks for your home

[Alex Carver]

On 6/19/2013 07:36, William Bagwell wrote:
> On Wednesday 19 June 2013, Ron Frazier (ALE) wrote:
>> I don't want to even get started on rf based credit cards.  Steve's been
>> reporting on various cases of those being abused again.  If I get one of
>> those, I'm sending it back or zapping it in the microwave oven.  I wonder
>> if that would destroy the magnetic strip.
>
> /Supposedly/ you can hole punch a corner away from the stripe, destroying the
> rf grid and keeping the magnetic stripe intact. Have not confirmed this bit
> of information and hoping our old cards will continue to work next month.
> Same account number, however the three digit extra number has changed...
>
> Depending on the company involved, sending them back is not an option.
>

It really depends where the antenna coil was located.  On my AmEx card, 
the coil passes under the magstripe.  The easiest thing to do if you 
want to disable the RFID permanently is to use a very bright light to 
find the actual chip (it's about 2mm on a side) and then use a sharp 
nail and hammer to strike the center of the chip.  You don't need to 
punch through the card in this case, just a very hard impact will 
shatter the silicon and the RFID portion is dead.