A security researcher has published a software tool that makes it easy to copy and modify identification data encoded onto the computer chips embedded in passports issued by the United States and dozens of other countries. Jeroen van Beek, a security researcher at the University of Amsterdam, discussed his work at the Black Hat security conference in Las Vegas last month, but only this week released the tool that allows anyone to manipulate data on the passport chips. The attack is targeted at electronic passports or “e-passports.” According to the U.S. State Department, the United States stopped issuing passports without the chips in August 2007. Close to four dozen other countries also issue e-passports, which are designed around an open international standard. The information on the chips – name, date of birth, passport number, photo, etc. – is designed to be readable by a wireless interface known as radio frequency