RFID-blocking passport wallets

What RFID-blocking passport wallets are

They answer a specific worry: that a hidden reader could pull data from the chip in your passport or cards without you knowing.

• The chip in the cover: Most passports now carry a contactless chip and antenna in the cover or a center page; Malaysia issued the first in 1998, and over 150 countries did by mid-2019.
• What the chip holds: In a U.S. passport: the data printed on the photo page, a digital photo, a unique chip number and a digital signature.
• The chip symbol: A small chip logo on the cover marks a biometric passport; UK eGates admit only passports that carry it.
• Cards carry chips too: Contactless payment cards, some driver’s licenses and the U.S. passport card also hold RFID chips.
• Who makes them: SLNT, Pacsafe, Peak Design, Satechi, Leatherology and July sell passport holders with RFID-blocking layers.

How they work

A passive RFID chip has no battery: the reader’s field powers it, and passport chips answer at 13.56 MHz. A conductive layer wrapped around the chip keeps that field out.

• A 10 cm design range: Passport chips follow ISO 14443, a contactless standard meant for reads within about ten centimeters.
• Shielding in the cover: U.S. passports have anti-skimming material in the front cover and spine; it works while the book is closed or nearly closed.
• A key printed inside: Basic Access Control keeps the chip locked until a reader supplies a key built from the date of birth, expiry date and document number; the session is then encrypted.
• Signed data: Passive Authentication checks a digital signature, so changes to the chip’s data can be detected.
• The wallet’s lining: 13.56 MHz tags are hard to read within a few centimeters of a metal surface, which is what a metal-bearing lining provides.
• Faraday-grade fabric: SLNT says its Multishield lining meets MIL-STD-188-125-2 and cuts signals 100,000 to 1 from 1 to 40 GHz.

Types

• Passport covers: A slim leather sleeve with a few card slots; Leatherology’s Deluxe Passport Cover has four card slots and two side pockets.
• Travel folios: Hold passports, cards, cash and a pen for customs forms; Peak Design’s takes 2 passports, 8 cards and 15 unfolded bills.
• Family wallets: Pacsafe’s RFIDsafe travel wallet has two shielded passport pockets; July’s Large Travel Wallet fits two or more passports.
• Tracker wallets: Satechi’s FindAll cover has Apple Find My built in; July’s Large Travel Wallet has a pocket for an AirTag.
• Faraday wallets: SLNT lines a leather wallet with Faraday fabric that blocks NFC as well as RFID.
• Card sleeves: The U.S. passport card comes with a sleeve that blocks its RFID chip when the card is not in use.

What to look for

• Shielding all round: Check which pockets are lined; Peak Design says its RFID shell covers every area except the external quick-access pocket.
• A real test: The federal test for ID sleeves requires no response from a 13.56 MHz reader in eight orientations, even with the card touching it.
• Results vary: Tests cited by Slate, including Consumer Reports’, found some blocking wallets work better than others.
• Room for the trip: Count passports, cards, boarding pass and cash; Pacsafe’s travel wallet adds a pen loop and a zippered coin pocket.
• Slim and light: Peak Design’s wallet weighs 60 g and is 0.8 cm thick compressed, 2.4 cm full.
• Hard to lose: Satechi’s cover can be pinged from Find My and warns you if it is left behind; Pacsafe’s has a D-ring for a strap.

On the plane and on the trip

• ID at TSA: TSA accepts a U.S. passport, a U.S. passport card or a foreign passport as ID at the checkpoint.
• Out of the wallet: Where TSA uses Credential Authentication Technology, the officer asks for your photo ID and it goes into the unit to be scanned.
• Passport control: UK Border Force asks arrivals to take the passport out of its cover and open it at the photo page.
• UK eGates: Open to passports with the biometric symbol, U.S. ones included with a valid ETA, for travelers 8 and older and at least 120 cm tall.
• Mobile Passport Control: With CBP’s MPC app you scan your passport ahead, then take it out in the MPC line for the officer.
• Keep it on you: UK Border Force says not to pack your passport in luggage, as you may need it on arrival.
• Tracker batteries: Satechi’s cover holds a 150 mAh lithium battery; TSA allows devices with lithium batteries of 100 Wh or less in carry-on bags.

Limits and care

• Few real cases: Slate found few if any reports of actual RFID skimming crimes; the method is more popular with researchers than thieves.
• One-time card codes: Card networks say contactless chips send a new code for each payment, so a captured signal is worth one purchase at most.
• Theft comes first: BGR reports that contactless fraud almost always follows a physically stolen card.
• No help at the ATM: Skimmers fitted to ATMs and card terminals are a real, widespread problem that no wallet blocks.
• Only while closed: In a 2006 demonstration, a mock U.S. e-passport opened half an inch revealed itself to a reader at least two feet away.
• Foil is disputed: Sources disagree on whether wrapping a card in aluminum foil fully stops it being read.
• Protect the chip: State Department rules count a U.S. passport with a damaged or nonfunctioning chip as a damaged passport.

A short history

• 1998: Malaysia issues the first biometric passport.
• 2005: Marc Witteman shows Dutch passport numbers are predictable, making their access keys easier to guess.
• October 2005: After most public comments raised skimming fears, the State Department adds an anti-skimming cover and Basic Access Control to U.S. e-passports.
• August 2006: In Las Vegas, Lukas Grunwald copies the chip data of a German e-passport onto a blank chip.
• 2008: The U.S. passport card is first issued, with a long-range RFID chip and a blocking sleeve.
• 2009: ICAO introduces Supplemental Access Control to address weaknesses in Basic Access Control.
• February 2014: GSA publishes version 13.1.0 of its test procedure for ID-card blocking sleeves.