Yorkshire conductive elastomer firm Peratech claims to have solved the hostile reading problem, known as skimming, which can compromise contactless smartcard systems, including chipped passports.

“With RFID, the value of information is rising dramatically,” Peratech CEO Philip Taysom told EW. Because portable equipment allows data thieves to read smartcards in people’s pockets, the Dutch government cancelled a €1.2bn national security card for defence workers, he said.

Peratech’s elastomers can be designed to have switch-like characteristics and can be moulded into shapes including thin layers.

The solution is a thin sheet of permanently connected polymer which changes resistance when pressed. “It is around 20µm thick and can go inside the card’s laminate layer,” said Taysom. “Because it is thin, there is no need to mill a cavity for it and it is really robust because it is a polymer.”

Casual pressure cannot operate the card. “If you push it in your pocket or wallet it won’t work,” said Taysom. “Bending it won’t do it either, although my three-year-old son can operate it and my 85-year-old grandmother can too. It is down to the mechanism of the system we have implemented.” He would not disclose details of the mechanism.