Hacking of RFID smart cards was the biggest deal of 2006. Now that new electronic passports and a slew of other RFID-based government and commercial projects in the works in the United States, hacking is making headlines again.

CNET News reports on Adam Laurie’s “hacking” an American Express card at the conference, and the significance:

Demonstrations like that show the potential misuse of RFID technology in the near future. Without touching someone, a thief could sniff the contents of an RFID-enabled credit card just in passing. The same is true for embedded RFID chips in the human body, work access badges, some public transit cards, and even the new passports in use in more than 45 countries.