Credit cards with chips aren't completely secure

[Northstar]

She has a magnetic strip card. No chip. No pin. She has some sort of account for the rail system in the U.K., she buys her tickets online, just enters what ticket she wants and imputs her credit card number. She has a login to buy the tickets, and logs in at the train station to print the tickets when she gets there. I think she gets a lower fare that way.

Online purchases don't use either mag stripe/signature or chip/pin. There is no card reader to swipe your card or stick your chip into. For any online shopping, it is irrelevant whether you've got a stripe or a chip. It sounds as if she doesn't need to use the card to print the tickets, either, if she uses a log-in to access her account.

It sounds as if she has found it is no disadvantage to have a card without a chip, even though many places use this system, because there are so many workarounds. Lots of ways to pay for things. Living in 2014 sure beats the days when if we missed the bank closing on Friday it meant a lean weekend with no cash!

That's very different from saying chip cards are rejected, or at least viewed negatively, in Europe! Are you sure you're not filling in your own interpretation on what she's saying about using her card abroad?

 

[tvguy]

Online purchases don't use either mag stripe/signature or chip/pin. There is no card reader to swipe your card or stick your chip into. For any online shopping, it is irrelevant whether you've got a stripe or a chip. It sounds as if she doesn't need to use the card to print the tickets, either, if she uses a log-in to access her account.

It sounds as if she has found it is no disadvantage to have a card without a chip, even though many places use this system, because there are so many workarounds. Lots of ways to pay for things. Living in 2014 sure beats the days when if we missed the bank closing on Friday it meant a lean weekend with no cash!

That's very different from saying chip cards are rejected, or at least viewed negatively, in Europe! Are you sure you're not filling in your own interpretation on what she's saying about using her card abroad?

Correct. She is not having an issue with her credit card without a chip in the U.K. The exchange student who went over with her, who HAS a credit card with a chip HAS had problems in the U.K. with THAT card.

 

[tvguy]

I was responding to this:



And I have to ask...





What part of Canada are they from??? I've travelled in all provinces and territories, and with the exception of one small village accessible only by boat (in 1992), I don't think I've ever had trouble using a credit card!

All in Saskatchewan. Plenty, Paddockwood, Dodsland, and Druid. Not sure about Candle Lake, Ships Lantern started taking credit cards, but then it burned down. Of course, the first time I took DW to Candle Lake in 1985, they still were using outhouses.

 

[bcla]

Online purchases don't use either mag stripe/signature or chip/pin. There is no card reader to swipe your card or stick your chip into. For any online shopping, it is irrelevant whether you've got a stripe or a chip. It sounds as if she doesn't need to use the card to print the tickets, either, if she uses a log-in to access her account.

It sounds as if she has found it is no disadvantage to have a card without a chip, even though many places use this system, because there are so many workarounds. Lots of ways to pay for things. Living in 2014 sure beats the days when if we missed the bank closing on Friday it meant a lean weekend with no cash!

That's very different from saying chip cards are rejected, or at least viewed negatively, in Europe! Are you sure you're not filling in your own interpretation on what she's saying about using her card abroad?

Entering all the information online shouldn't matter if it's a secured website. The only issue I would have is that some people have unknowingly installed keystroke trackers, although a certain randomness might make it hard to decipher.

One of the first credit cards I recall with an encrypted smart card was the original American Express Blue card. Anyone with one also received a smart card reader, although I wasn't quite sure how anyone was supposed to use it. It would have required the cooperation of the merchant to work with their proprietary card reader, and I'm not sure how many wanted to make it more complicated than they had to.

http://bits.blogs.nytimes.com/2008/...ts-high-tech-cred/?_php=true&_type=blogs&_r=0

Back when it was introduced in 1999, the Blue card from American Express was marketed as the first credit card specifically meant to be used on the Internet. It came with a microprocessor chip embedded in the plastic, as well as a smart-card reader that people could plug into their computers for making secure Internet transactions. Not too many people had heard of smart-card readers back then, but a lot of people did like the card’s futuristic look — translucent plastic — and the fact that it charged no annual fee.

Fast-forward nearly 10 years, and Blue’s card reader is long gone, but its high-tech aura lingers. Or at least it did until American Express recently began bombarding Blue cardholders with e-mail offers for free old-fashioned appointment books and day planners — as in, the kind that come on paper.

 

[LuLuO]

Nothing is secure.

 

[BCDisneyFanatic]

All in Saskatchewan. Plenty, Paddockwood, Dodsland, and Druid. Not sure about Candle Lake, Ships Lantern started taking credit cards, but then it burned down. Of course, the first time I took DW to Candle Lake in 1985, they still were using outhouses.

Yep, I will definitely admit those are pretty remote... Certainly not representative of what life and commerce is like for the vast majority of Canadians, but I bet it's quiet and relaxing (and flat!) there!

 

[Unas]

Ah, all I said was chipped cards are having some issues unique to their design, not that they are any less ( or any more) security.

Well, actually you said, "I just know that the study abroad program at my daughter's school recommended she make sure her credit card did NOT have a chip for security reasons."

 

[Unas]

As with any technology chip cards can be compromised remotely too-they are RF chips and can be scanned with an RFID tag reader.

No, that's totally incorrect. You described a passive RFID card, using a totally different technology than tThe "chip and pin." Based on the cited article, looks like tvguy is also confusing the two technologies A lot of the key ring proximity cards lack a mag stripe.

By the way, newer US passports have all your data in RFID . . .

How are chip-and-PIN cards different from RFID credit cards?

RFID, or radio-frequency identification, cards are contactless. They have a chip and radio antenna that transmit account information, raising concerns (which people are still arguing about years after the cards were introduced) that criminals may use readers to skim consumer details. Chip-and-PIN cards work only when inserted into a merchant’s reader.

http://www.washingtonpost.com/lifes...8bdf9a-a13f-11e2-be47-b44febada3a8_story.html

 

[NHdisneylover]

OP--was it you who had a son on a class trip to Spain (or Italy?) last year and the kid ended up needing more money because he could not find any drink for less than $7? (I think later it turned out that maybe drinks are not really that high most places, but the school was forcing them to only eat at super pricey venues or something).

If so, I wonder if things have a tendency to get a little lost in translation between you and your kids (or maybe they think they are being silly and joking but you are taking them seriously ) --because that story seemed as off from my experience living and frequently travelling in Europe as this one does (and it seems the vast majority of people have had the same experiences with chip cards over here as I have, which is totally the opposite of what you are saying your DD is having).

 

[firecracker725]

This. We are forever having visitors to the US who only have the strip and run into not being bale to pay in many places.
Heck, even our local McDonalds now requires a chip and a pin (though I consider it lucky it is not cash only like many still are here in Germany--cash only in Canada is not something I have seen as even close to the norm on visits for many years; I agree you must be very rural--wow).

Ditto for France. In fact, when the chip in our French debit card failed (on a Friday after 6pm), we had virtually no way of accessing our money. I had all these American credit cards in my wallet and no way to use them. It was incredibly frustrating. We ended up calling American Express and they issued me a temporary PIN and helped me locate an ATM that would allow me to make a cash withdrawal.

 

[NHdisneylover]

My teen just asked if OP'S daughter brought this up when explaining lots of expenditures on her CC, using the "I had to put my friends' charges on because her card would not work" excuse. She says it might be a good/sneaky way to get extra money out of dad (similar to needing more to pay for those pricey drinks in Spain)

Hopefully this is NOT the case, OP,and your daughter's friends are not taking advantage of her by getting her to pay when they could do it themselves, but if there are odd charges please take notice that a large number of people have experiences that are completely the opposite of what your DD is telling you she has, and that her experiences do not even match common advice online, etc for travelers to that area.

 

[sunshinehighway]

OP--was it you who had a son on a class trip to Spain (or Italy?) last year and the kid ended up needing more money because he could not find any drink for less than $7? (I think later it turned out that maybe drinks are not really that high most places, but the school was forcing them to only eat at super pricey venues or something).

If so, I wonder if things have a tendency to get a little lost in translation between you and your kids (or maybe they think they are being silly and joking but you are taking them seriously ) --because that story seemed as off from my experience living and frequently travelling in Europe as this one does (and it seems the vast majority of people have had the same experiences with chip cards over here as I have, which is totally the opposite of what you are saying your DD is having).

yup.
When a several people are telling you what you are saying is the complete opposite of their experiences maybe you need to do a little research or at least be open to the possibility that you have it backwards.
Seriously, its like Jeopardy all over again.

 

[NHdisneylover]

yup.
When a several people are telling you what you are saying is the complete opposite of their experiences maybe you need to do a little research or at least be open to the possibility that you have it backwards.
Seriously, its like Jeopardy all over again.

Jeopardy? I must have missed a thread. . .

 

[DeniseinNS]

I live in the Canada and the chips have been the normal for quite a few years now. You can still swipe cards as well if the chip is not picking up or if the card does not have a chip. I much prefer it this way

 

[declansdad]

that must be really remote then, because we're pretty current with technology up here, even in the boondocks.

perhaps rural maritimes?

no!!

 

[Kogo Shuko]

no!!

I'm honestly not trying to be offensive or ignorant!!

I went to a little town in Newfoundland only a few hours away from St John's just four years ago and the only way I could pay for anything is if I went up the road to a certain store that had the ONLY ATM. Every single place asked for cash, even the store the ATM was in.

And I can't say the name of the town on here, because it's not a word that should be on the DIS. But I know for a fact they didn't have debit/credit machines because I wanted to buy a T-Shirt with the town name on it, and didn't have the cash for it.

And just 10 years ago I went out to a little Quebec island in the Gulf of St Lawrence where they didn't even have a McDonalds. No chain restaurants, at all. That island was a blast from the past, with limited technology and lots and lots of traditional entertainment.

 

[declansdad]

All in Saskatchewan. Plenty, Paddockwood, Dodsland, and Druid. Not sure about Candle Lake, Ships Lantern started taking credit cards, but then it burned down. Of course, the first time I took DW to Candle Lake in 1985, they still were using outhouses.

I'm sorry but most if not all of what you post about Canada is so exaggerated and wrong, but it is entertaining.

 

[tvguy]

Well, actually you said, "I just know that the study abroad program at my daughter's school recommended she make sure her credit card did NOT have a chip for security reasons."

Yes I did say that. Yes they did say that. The students have been there since September and the only one having an issue is the one with the chip card, so the warning from the study abroad program was correct.

 

[tvguy]

I'm sorry but most if not all of what you post about Canada is so exaggerated and wrong, but it is entertaining.

Maybe not correct for where you live, but Canada is an amazingly diverse country. And you live 2,700 miles to 3,500 miles from the areas I frequent in Canada. Your Canadian comments have kept my Canadian cousins in stitches.

 

[declansdad]

Maybe not correct for where you live, but Canada is an amazingly diverse country.

Yes it is but you don't seem to know much about it.