A group of Dutch hackers has shown the vulnerability of the new "ePassports" by making, and then using, one for Elvis Presley.

Even worse, they tell you exactly how to do it.

The U.S., Canada, the European Union and other developed countries have been introducing electronically reinforced passports in which a radio-frequency ID (RFID) chip is implanted in the passport's cover.

The chip, meant to be read by a scanner at border controls, duplicates much of the information printed in the passport: photo, name, address, place of birth and often a fingerprint.

Government authorities insist the ePassports are more secure and more difficult to forge than regular ones. In the U.S., they're now the only kind being issued.

Yet hackers and computer-security experts have repeatedly shown that the passport RFID chips are easy to read and "clone," even through a wire mesh the U.S. added to ePassports a couple of years ago.

Now the Dutch group's taken it a step further by not just cloning, but creating an entirely new fake ePassport for a very famous dead man.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 10:56

WHITE PLAINS, N.Y. — A laptop thief got caught — after the computer owner tracked him remotely.

Jose Caceres said he used a remote access program to log on every day and watch his computer being used, and then tipped off police, leading to the arrest of a 34-year-old male suspect.

The man was charged with grand larceny, said police Lt. Eric Fischer in Wednesday editions of the Journal News.

"I reported the theft to the police and they were investigating, then I decided to sign on and see what the guy was doing with my computer," said Caceres, 27, of White Plains. "Having remote access is such an advantage, because it allows you to do something like this."

The computer was stolen in early September, he said, when he left it on top of his car while carrying things into his home.

When he first tried to figure out who had stolen his computer by logging on remotely, Caceres said he was stymied in his efforts.

"It was kind of frustrating because he was mostly using it to watch porn," he said. "I couldn't get any information on him."

But then the suspect typed in a name and address to register on a Web site, he said. A few hours later, police caught the suspect.

Posted by Justin Payton in Adware, Spyware and Trojans at 10:54