Discover Seattle!

General Category => Discover Seattle! => Topic started by: TehBorken on Nov 04 14 04:41

Title: Charge $999,999 to any VISA card
Post by: TehBorken on Nov 04 14 04:41
Cooooool.


Some interesting news about a flaw in Visa's contactless card that lets anyone charge $999,999 to it:

According to researchers at Newcastle University in the UK, the card system developed by VISA for use in the United Kingdom fails to recognize transactions made in non-UK foreign currencies and can therefore be tricked into approving any transaction up to 999,999.99 (http://www.wired.com/2014/11/chip-n-pin-foreign-currency-vulnerability/).

"With just a mobile phone we created a POS terminal that could read a card through a wallet," Martin Emms, lead researcher of the project that uncovered the flaw, noted in a statement about the findings.  "

All the checks are carried out on the card rather than the terminal so at the point of transaction, there is nothing to raise suspicions. By pre-setting the amount you want to transfer, you can bump your mobile against someone's pocket or swipe your phone over a wallet left on a table and approve a transaction."