Saturday, December 2, 2006
Wired: Nike+ IPod = Surveillance
Posted by Suhit Gupta in "ARTICLE" @ 08:00 AM
"If you enhance your workout with the new Nike+ iPod Sport Kit, you may be making yourself a surveillance target. A report from four University of Washington researchers to be released Thursday reveals that security flaws in the new RFID-powered device from Nike and Apple make it easy for tech-savvy stalkers, thieves and corporations to track your movements. With just a few hundred dollars and a little know-how, someone could even plot your running routes on a Google map without your knowledge. The Nike+ iPod gives runners real-time updates about the speed and length of their workouts via a small RFID device that fits into the soles of Nike shoes, and broadcasts workout data to a small receiver plugged into an iPod Nano. While this setup sounds convenient and cool, it didn't sit well with Scott Saponas, a computer science graduate student at the University of Washington in Seattle. After enjoying his Nike+ iPod for a few months, Saponas began to suspect there might be other, more nefarious uses for the gear."
Interesting that there would be a security/privacy vulnerability like this. Shouldn't the creators of this technology have thought about pairing devices over a secure and excrypted connection?!
Interesting that there would be a security/privacy vulnerability like this. Shouldn't the creators of this technology have thought about pairing devices over a secure and excrypted connection?!
