Chip and Pin "Weakness" Exposed By Cambridge Researchers

another random user writes "A vulnerability in the widely used chip and pin payment system has been exposed by Cambridge University researchers. Cards were found to be open to a form of cloning, despite past assurances from banks that chip and pin could not be compromised. In a statement given to the BBC, a spokeswoman for the UK's Financial Fraud Action group said: 'We've never claimed that chip and pin is 100% secure and the industry has successfully adopted a multi-layered approach to detecting any newly-identified types of fraud.'"

Comments

Security by obscurity

[jenningsthecat]

All the locks in the world won't keep crooks out of your house if you don't use the locks. Your house may LOOK invulnerable, but one day sonbody's gonna try the door, find it open, and steal you blind.

The same principle applies here - using obvious and predictable 'random' code generation, and relying on people not knowing that's what you're doing, only works for so long.

And arrogant people, (and companies, and banks), who crow about how secure their systems are, are just asking for it. Serves the fuckers right; but it's too bad that credit card holders are paying the price for their creditors' arrogance.