A University of Virginia graduate student cracked security codes used to protect billions of credit cards, subway passes, and security badges.

26-year-old Karsten Nohl and two german hackers broke the encryption codes in tiny chips found inside so-called "smartcards." The hack only took a few hours.

Hacking the security chip could allow a criminal to clone credit cards, get free subway rides, or even steal cars by copying the codes in your wireless keys.

Nohl and his partners have not disclosed how they broke the code to keep the info out of criminal hands.

Reported by the Associated Press