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Viral travel hacks are often useless or illegal
Viral travel hacks circulating on social media are often ineffective or potentially illegal. One prominent trend involves wrapping biometric passports in aluminum foil to prevent hackers from reading personal data via RFID chips.
While aluminum foil can shield radio frequencies, experts note that hackers would need to be in extremely close proximity to attempt such a connection. Furthermore, the data on these chips is heavily encrypted. Implementing this hack often results in longer security queues, potential damage to the passport, and unnecessary delays at airports.
Entities
Claims
What the coverage asserts, and how many sources carry each claim.
- [● 4 SOURCES] Viral travel hacks shared on social media are often useless or potentially illegal. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Wrapping passports in foil can cause longer queues at security checkpoints. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Hackers would theoretically need to be in very close proximity to establish a connection to RFID chips in passports. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Passport chip data is highly encrypted, making it difficult to read even if a connection is made. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Aluminum foil can shield radio frequency communications. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de
- [● 4 SOURCES] Using certain travel hacks, such as foil wrapping, can damage passports. www.leinetal24.de · www.mannheim24.de · www.op-online.de · www.tz.de