London Telegraph
06/01/2007
QUOTE
Experts claimed last night to have found a way of doctoring chip and pin machines to collect customer details.
Security fears were raised after a specialist research team at Cambridge University said they had reconfigured a machine to allow it to copy personal account and pin numbers which could then be used to create fake cards.
The researchers, who specialise in testing the security of electronic hardware, said it would be relatively easy for fraudsters to replicate their method. It cost less than £1,000, took only a month and all the information and equipment needed was available on the internet and from computer manufacturers, they said.
The Security Group, based at Cambridge's computer laboratories, rewired a chip and pin machine to let them control the screen, keypad and card-reader. They then showed the results on the internet.
The payments association APACS said last night that the ruse was unlikely to be repeated on the high street. Its experts would seek to discuss the experiment with the Cambridge team.
Security fears were raised after a specialist research team at Cambridge University said they had reconfigured a machine to allow it to copy personal account and pin numbers which could then be used to create fake cards.
The researchers, who specialise in testing the security of electronic hardware, said it would be relatively easy for fraudsters to replicate their method. It cost less than £1,000, took only a month and all the information and equipment needed was available on the internet and from computer manufacturers, they said.
The Security Group, based at Cambridge's computer laboratories, rewired a chip and pin machine to let them control the screen, keypad and card-reader. They then showed the results on the internet.
The payments association APACS said last night that the ruse was unlikely to be repeated on the high street. Its experts would seek to discuss the experiment with the Cambridge team.
Comment:
No matter how much time you spend making a system bug free, you still have a system full of bugs. Hardware and software, that can freely be obtained, can be dismantled and search through for anything exploitable. We should never rely on technology to protect us when the technology is so ubiquitous that our information can be captured at any point in time and used against us.
