Cotactless Cards and the Digital Pickpockets!

As of last week “contactless cards” can be used by Londoners on the Tube (underground) and the buses.

These contactless cards are not only the dedicated cards issued for travel though and can also be your normal visa/master cards etc.

This is because from now on, all of the credit and debit cards from all the banks in the UK are to be “contactless”!

Before we think about the huge potential problems of fraud and privacy with this new development, there are some real and current problems already being faced by the hapless Londoners.

Apparently there are a large number of reports of “card clash”.

Card clash occurs when you have more than one contactless card in your wallet and you pass by a contactless card reader machine.

So if you have a contactless travel card that you had purchased in order to use on the bus and you also have a contactless visa credit card in your wallet, it appears that the card reader machine can at times take the travel fair from both of the cards in your pocket, with you none the wiser about the fact.

You would have to very carefully examine your visa statement along with the details of the travel card, to find out that you were robbed of your money by the card reader machine.

The point is that the contactless cards by definition mean that you no longer have total control over the cards that you carry in your pocket.

It means that all kinds of card readers can read the data on your cards in your wallet and even take funds out as you go about your business!

Then of course there could be the Digital Pickpockets, who could be strategically placed at suitable spots, in order to grab not only the data, but also funds directly and without any contact of any kind from the cards in your pocket.

Not to mention the fact that as you go about minding your own business, the cards in your pocket can be read by all kinds of machines, providing comprehensive details about all your movements, throughout the day, to friends and to foes.

It is a brave new contactless world!

 

Yes, you have identified some of the pitfalls of technology designed for "convenience" without much thought to the "risk" or potential "harm." It will be interesting to see how it plays out.

 

I read a report a few days ago about how easy it was for a person (not a passive card reader) to deduct cash from anyone they stood next to who had such a contactless card. Not being tech savvy myself, I didn't understand the details, but I've used an Octopus card in Hong Kong for years to travel on public transport, and I'm not about to start paying cash for each journey, especially as at my age I can travel anywhere in the territory for a mere HK$2 (25 US cents). In any case, the card never holds more than HK$300 (US$37), so the loss potential is outweighed by the convenience.

 

I would have thought that it was obvious that the contactless cards problem relates not only to the potential loss of any funds held by such a card, but also and more importantly to the vital personal data which could be harvested by digital criminals.
That could well cost Lofuji a LOT more than the US $37 that he keeps in his card!