Crime-fighting pants stop digital pickpockets
It's not enough anymore to keep a close watch on your wallet. Pickpockets these days don't need to get their hands on your billfold to get their hands on your credit card number.
Security firm Norton says that this year 70 percent of credit cards will be vulnerable to digital pick pocketing. Thieves can use devices called sniffers to wirelessly steal information from credit cards, passports and key fobs simply by waving them nearby.
That's why Norton teamed up with San Francisco designer Betabrand to make a pair of high-end jeans with a metal alloy woven into the pockets to shield your valuables from being proximity swiped. The metal acts like a faraday cage, intercepting sniffer signals and spreading them out to prevent any two-way communication.
It's for that reason that not all the pockets have the shield; it also blocks cell service. As Cate Cauguiran reports, you'll want to keep your phone in one of the other pockets.
Betabrand will start shipping the $168 jeans in February.