Washington:
A pair of ‘smart’ jeans that block wireless signals can prevent hackers from accessing the details of a wearer’s credit and debit cards.
The jeans aim to stop thieves hacking into radio frequency identification (RFID) tagged contactless payment cards or passports.
The majority of credit and debit cards are fitted with Near Field Communication chips, a type of RFID technology, ‘BBC News’ reported.
Security software maker Norton has teamed up with San Francisco-based Betabrand to make the jeans and a blazer which use a silver-based material to block wireless signals.
The jeans will retail at USD 151 and the blazer at USD 198 when they go on sale in February.
Digital forensic firm Disklabs has used similar technology to make a wallet, which, like the jeans, blocks RFID signals.
“There is technology readily available for anyone to snatch other people’s credit and debit card data within seconds. These apps simply copy the card with all the information on it,” said Simon Steggles from Disklabs.
