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He lives in Estonia, that is a very "strange" place when it comes to the use of public key encryption. Most places using chips for payment is a continuation of
by digi_owl 9y ago
He lives in Estonia, that is a very "strange" place when it comes to the use of public key encryption.
Most places using chips for payment is a continuation of the magnetic strip and pin, only that now the chip can attempt to verify that the payment terminal and bank connection is functioning correctly before accepting the pin and approving the transaction details the terminal is sending to the bank.
In the end the transactions are basically ledger entries, be them manual or digital.
- corpMaverick 9y agoSo the ones used in the USA are susceptible to a man in the middle attack? i.e. Somebody stealing the CC, pin or other secret while using a merchants terminal.
- digi_owl 9y agoYes and no. A chip can't be copied like a mag strip can, so it is safe from the classic skimmers. Also a pin is worthless on its own. I have however read about a kind of mitm attack that was demoed in the UK. It involved a device sitting between the card and the terminal, and it made the chip think the terminal was doing a signature payment, while the terminal thought the chip had validated the pin.