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An unusual travel trend is attracting attention on platforms such as TikTok and Reddit as well as in travel forums: holidaymakers are wrapping their passports in aluminium foil in an effort to protect themselves from digital data theft.
The idea is driven by fears that criminals could skim sensitive information contactlessly as they walk past. Modern German travel documents contain a so-called RFID chip embedded in their integrated data card.
On German passports, the wireless chip enables, according to the Federal Office for Information Security (source in German), fast and tamper-proof identity checks at borders. In addition to the digital passport photo, it stores personal information such as name, place of birth, sex, eye colour, height and place of residence, as well as two fingerprints taken when the document is issued.
But is unauthorised reading of the data actually conceivable? After all, the chip has only a very short range.
Experts are certain: unauthorised access is extremely unlikely in normal everyday travel. A reader would need to be, as with contactless payments, in immediate proximity to the document – virtually “resting on it”.
Although aluminium foil is supposed to serve as an improvised barrier against radio waves, specialists therefore regard this protective measure as largely superfluous and useless. On top of that, repeatedly wrapping and unwrapping passports at border controls causes unnecessary waiting.
In short, it offers nothing except a supposed feeling of security and puzzled looks from fellow travellers.
Strict data protection for passports
As a rule, the data stored on the passport are protected. In Germany there is no central storage of the chip data. The passport registers held by the authorities contain only the same information as before electronic passports were introduced. The fingerprints also remain exclusively on the document itself. As soon as the holder collects their passport, all fingerprint data used in production are irrevocably deleted by the authorities, as required by section 16 of the Passport Act (source in German).