Comments on: Are “Contactless” (RFID) Credit Cards Safe? http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/are-contactless-rfid-credit-cards-safe/ feeding your credit card addiction... Sun, 07 Mar 2010 21:51:18 -0500 http://wordpress.org/?v=abc hourly 1 By: Tom Mahoney http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/are-contactless-rfid-credit-cards-safe/comment-page-1/#comment-740 Tom Mahoney Mon, 12 May 2008 12:03:48 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/are-contactless-rfid-credit-cards-safe-2/#comment-740 If you believe everything that the credit card companies tell you then you're probably one of those that believes everything the government tells you too. Visa and MC are not encrypted - I don't know about Amex and JCB. But suppose that they were. The fact remains that once whatever is transmitted by the chip is captured, it can be transmitted by the bad guy using cheap equipment found on eBay or built in the basement. If you follow all the press out of the UK, you know that RFID credit cards have not done a thing to stop fraud. They have just moved it over to the Card Not Present world of on-line transactions where the merchant, not the bank, is responsible for the losses. Tom Mahoney, Director Merchant911.org COMING SOON: cardholder911.info If you believe everything that the credit card companies tell you then you’re probably one of those that believes everything the government tells you too.

Visa and MC are not encrypted – I don’t know about Amex and JCB. But suppose that they were. The fact remains that once whatever is transmitted by the chip is captured, it can be transmitted by the bad guy using cheap equipment found on eBay or built in the basement.

If you follow all the press out of the UK, you know that RFID credit cards have not done a thing to stop fraud. They have just moved it over to the Card Not Present world of on-line transactions where the merchant, not the bank, is responsible for the losses.

Tom Mahoney, Director
Merchant911.org
COMING SOON: cardholder911.info

]]> By: chipcards http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/are-contactless-rfid-credit-cards-safe/comment-page-1/#comment-653 chipcards Sat, 03 May 2008 08:40:49 +0000 http://www.creditaddict.com/archives/are-contactless-rfid-credit-cards-safe-2/#comment-653 Small corrections: >The contactless cards use secure data transmission. All information that >is transmitted is subjected to 128-bit encryption This is not true for Mastercard, Visa, Amex and JCB. The over the air transmission is not encrypted and will never be! > The contactless card never transmits your credit card number. >Rather, your card transmits a unique number for each transaction. This is partially true and only for Amex ! Neither Visa nor Mastercard contactless cards have capability to generate unique card numbers. Small corrections:

>The contactless cards use secure data transmission. All information that >is transmitted is subjected to 128-bit encryption

This is not true for Mastercard, Visa, Amex and JCB. The over the air transmission is not encrypted and will never be!

> The contactless card never transmits your credit card number. >Rather, your card transmits a unique number for each transaction.

This is partially true and only for Amex ! Neither Visa nor Mastercard contactless cards have capability to generate unique card numbers.

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