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Credit Cards That Think They Are Gadgets
holy_calamity writes "Pittsburgh startup Dynamics Inc has unveiled gadget-like credit cards with buttons, lights and even displays built into the same space as a conventional card. One card has two buttons on the front, which, when pressed, rewrite the data on the card's magnetic stripe, allowing it to act as multiple bank or credit cards in one. Another has several buttons and a display in place of the card's number. Only after entering a PIN is the magnetic stripe populated and the full card number revealed, and after a short time both go blank again for security."
I wonder how long it'll be until somebody builds onboard biometrics into one of these things.
Though this seems like a much safer alternative to today's credit/debit cards, although like TFA says, what will this really do for security? How long until a flaw is discovered or it is cracked?
So I'm guessing you wrote that just so you could get in an early comment.
Or are you really concerned about security on an item which literally has all of its information printed right on its surface which you hand to strangers and gets stored in a third party database. Oh and I forgot that most of the printing is actually raised so it can be recorded with a simple piece of paper and a crayon.
You are worried that something could be less secure than THAT? Well I suppose adding a speaker for blind cashiers might be a bit less secure...
Out of modpoints but really liked a post? 1BDkF6TtmmeZ3yqXbz9yhdYVqRYnwFoXDj
I wonder how long it'll be until somebody builds onboard biometrics into one of these things.
Screw that, I'm waiting for these guys to port Quake to a credit card.
Cards that will populate the mag-strip with transaction-specific codes each time. So you can type the code in, the guy at the restaurant can pick up the card with your ticket, and swipe it once.
But if he tries to scan the stripe and clone the card, the number he gets is useless, because it is transaction specific.
I would envision each CC being allocated a block of 200 random CC numbers, to be used in sequence, when it is printed, 200 random initial CVV2 numbers, and 1000 random CVV2 offsets in the form of a number between 0 and 999. For each transaction, pick a number, with no number re-used until 199 more transactions have been made.
Each time a number is used, the CVV2 is to be the initial CVV2 number plus the next CVV2 offset, modulo 999. CVV2 offsets are not re-used until 999 more transactions have been made.
Each time a number is used, the CC company can determine it is valid and compute exactly the right CC and CVV2 numbers that should be used by the next 10 transactions.
Unless there is delayed processing involved, they can also know to reject any number other than those 10.
Even if there is delayed transaction processing involved, the CC company can know a code 199 transactions ago is "too old", because there have been transactions made since then that are too old.
There should also be a way to enter a special PIN to generate a 'vendor specific' code that can be used for multiple transactions.
Possibly assigning card users larger pools of numbers, so expiration dates, and dollar limits can be encoded using the CC# and CVV2.
If multiple failures are detected with a CC# (e.g. someone tries to clone one number and try it with multiple CVVs), then that CC# is retired permanently, and the CC company sends the customer a new file to flash their credit card's memory with.
swipe a card and clone it
And how this is different from what we have now?
As parent indicated, biometrics is the weakest of these, as if someone is able to 'break the code' you have no way of changing your fingerprints, etc. The best approach is a combination of having and knowing, such as an ATM card which a thief can't use without knowing the PIN, or a building access card that requires you to punch in a code. If you lose your card, no big deal, just issue a new one and assign it a new code just in case.