, according to information emerging from security conferences in Las Vegas. During the
Black Hat Briefings and related DEFCON hacker convention, a security researcher demonstrated how he could inexpensively copy data from his European passport to a smart card with an RFID chip,
CNET News.comreported. Warnings of the security risks of e-passports come as governments around the world begin spending up to $3 billion to deploy them over the next five years, according to a U.S. research firm. Despite warnings by security experts and the Association of Corporate Travel Executives, the U.S. government plans to begin issuing e-passports this month. The State Department has been issuing e-passports to diplomats and other officials since last year.