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Disposable Credit Card Numbers
nihilvt sent us news that disposable credit card numbers are actually being deployed by several credit card issuers. The technology sounds like it involves a silly Windows plug-in of some sort, but I'd think there's a lot of potential for growth here. Has anyone actually used these systems? Do they work well? (We ran a story on this a few months ago.)
Disposable credit cards are not really credit cards, they are monetary transaction tokens which happen to fit inside a field designed for a credit card number. This lets you build a completely new electronic payment system that is still compatible with online merchants desgined for the credit card system.
These tokens can use any existing billing system as a backend. It can be billed to a real credit card like the systems described in the article. It can also be debited directly from your bank account. It can even be billed through a prepayed card you can buy at the store just like a phone card. I would really like to see a system with a Paypal account as its backend (anyone at paypal listening?)
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Stop worrying about the risks of nuclear power and start worrying about the risks of not using nuclear power.
Disposable credit card numbers? That's nothing new; just go to a 'cardz' site and grab a few. Am I missing something? ;-)
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Nah, it's not that much of a difference. Think of it in database terms: if they currently identify your account by your CC#, they will just have to change that to some other general ID. They'll have to keep a relationship table going between the real ID and the disposable CC#'s, along with valid vendor and timeframe information, but it won't really change the way they do business that much. The conversion to the new system will cost a pretty penny, but believe me, they can afford it.
Same concept with the one-use cards, it seems like they'd exhaust the card # space a lot quicker if each person can use 500 card numbers in a year as opposed to 1 every 5 years...
The system has room for each of 6 billion people to have almost 2 million numbers. Not a problem.
You can be sure the credit card companies have considered all of these issues. They don't screw around. Due diligence is a way of life for these people; their line of business leaves no room for error.
Doesn't this seem like a lot of overhead for the card companies? Now, not only do they have to keep track of millions of cards and billions of dollars spent through them, but they also have to ensure that the right cards are being used by the right retailers. Yes it's convienent, but how much is it going to cost?
This also doesn't exactly solve the problem... if I have a one-retailer use card set up for Amazon.com, someone can still steal that and buy stuff in my name from Amazon...
Same concept with the one-use cards, it seems like they'd exhaust the card # space a lot quicker if each person can use 500 card numbers in a year as opposed to 1 every 5 years...
Sorry if that was incoherent
Don't forget that not all 16 digit numbers are valid for use as credit card numbers. In order to be valid, a number must first pass a rudimentary checksum test called LUHN-10. This checksum is intended to prevent unnecessary online verification of numbers that were entered in error. In short, the sum of odd numbered digits (numbering starts at the right, not the left) must be evenly divisible by 10, and the totals of the other digits each individually multiplied by two must also be evenly divisible by 10. As a result, there's far fewer than 10000000000000000 sixteen digit credit card numbers available.
I'm sure you've seen commercials for American Express' "Blue" card with the smart chip and boasting of enhanced security features. I recieved mine a few months ago and this is my experience with it:
A heavy package arrived on my doorstep, containing a suspicious item wrapped in lead. After peeling back the lead, I realized it was the new Blue Amex card! I figured that I may as well test out theses enhanced security features, so I went to a porn site to sign up for a trial memberhip using a disposable card number.
You may be wondering how you get the card number, and I wondered this myself, until I ran my thumb over the smart chip, and magicly it sprung to life! It scaned my thumbprint, and then out came a holographic image of a terminal, displaying the creation of the random credit card number! Apparently, it checks the position of the moon in it's orbit to form a 32-bit variable. After determining the variable, it checks the temperature of the room, distance above sea level, and speed of sound in the current atmosphere, and calculates a string that is multiplied by the old variable. The resulting number is then plotted according to y=sin(x), and numbers are chosen from 16 points on the graph. The sines are then inverted and strung together to finally form the elusive random credit card number!
Or something like that.
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I use this feature all the time through American Express. They call it "Private Payments" and it's completely free to all cardholders. All you have to do is log in to their site, click on "Request new number" and plug it in to the vendor's checkout form. The number expires in about a month and can only be used by one vendor (although multiple charges can be made to the account, since places like Buy.com will charge you as each item ships). You don't have to run any software, and the charges show up like normal on your statement. You can view all your past generated numbers and the vendor that used them. I think it's a great idea.
-Entropy [think outside the system]