This card reader at East Campus, like others all over campus, has been labeled: "Big brother inside."
The equipment needed to duplicate or create an MIT Card is available for less then $500 -- and it may be easier than you think for the data on your card to be stolen and used to create a duplicate card, according to André DeHon G, who published a security assessment of the card system last week.
"The level of security provided by the card is laughable. The fact that M.I.T. is applying this level of security to monetary transactions reflects poorly on M.I.T.'s understanding of the technology," DeHon wrote.
For more information, you should read DeHon's security assessment. His report covers several areas: