Long distance relay attack

Abstract

Contactless smart cards are used to securely store data and to authorize the execution of sensitive operations. Their contactless interface represents a mixed blessing, allowing fast operations but also exposing such devices to potential attacks. Relay attacks are among the most powerful attacks applicable against contactless smart cards, allowing a contactless reader to interact with a physically far away card establishing a communication channel between them. In this paper we prove that it is possible to conduct such an attack on a geographical scale, basically without any constraints on the reader and card positions and reaching a relay distance of several kilometers, probably the first example in the literature for contactless smart cards, using cheap and off-the-shelf hardware and software tools.