Unfortunately bad use of technology - Flir

[Bud]

Mythbusters Banned from Talking about RFID Chip by Visa and American Express

I have seen a lot of hype and bullshit flying around generated by such 'experts'. Visa's intention could have been just to try to stop the next hype because they spend resources/time to deal with misleading claims which spread like a fire.

[Bud]

If it is under $50, just swipe and go, over $50 a Signature is required.

So that is what Chip is for, but sadly US is behind everyone else to convert payment cards to chip.

[Bud]

The paywave ... to how far away it can be read, it depends with what. Certainly tens of meters with a decent covert-use designed reader, and any hacker could get several meters out of them.

Sorry this is BS, please feel free to prove me wrong, as an RF guy I sincerely want to see a demo of a 13.56MHz contactless card being read from several meters distance.

[Mechanical Menace]

I love NFC, it's just so easy. No mucking about with cash.

Yep, I love it, and groan any time I have to actually enter a pin now, or any time someone fumbled cash or pin in the line in front of me.

I think you've got a couple of decades at least on me and I think I'm sooo much older than you in that respect. I use cash whenever possible out of preference and paranoia and would not trust another payment method I can use with only one type of verification. If you don't need a PIN to access your cash no one else does. And I can't help but believe that if you haven't heard about exploits that just means they're being kept on the down low.

What I always find amazing is the Yanks are still using basic magnetic strip cards.

If it is under $50, just swipe and go, over $50 a Signature is required.

So that is what Chip is for, but sadly US is behind everyone else to convert payment cards to chip.

 

Oh come on. As much as I love a bit of banter that claim has got to be people seriously extracting the urine.

[Falcon69]

It is true for Oregon, Washington it's $25 and under. Just swipe, prints receipt, and go. (or maybe it's $50 Washington, $25 Oregon, I forgot)

Getting carded sucks, but when it's my money, I prefer to be carded for my ID every time....but they just don't ask.  It's hell trying to prove that you didn't make a charge, and because the card wasn't reported stolen at the time or before the time the charge was made, I would still be responsible for the charge. It's tough to try and prove it wasn't you.

And yes, I agree. The US is behind the times in a lot of things, just not this.  Education is another one I can think of, but that is a whole 'nother thread.

[Red Squirrel]

Interesting, I wonder if this will become common.  They still need the card though.   An interesting design in any type of keypad application would be a small heater inside that starts to heat random buttons as soon as you press one.

As a slight note, that case looks pretty interesting.  It's nice to see accessories like this becoming available, might get prices of thermal imaging down.

[Falcon69]

I wonder if it sees through walls.  I could just see a kid sneaking out for the night, to come home to a parent waiting by the front door for him/her.  If he had this, he would know if it was safe to open the doors and sneak back up to his/her room.

And yes, I speak from experience, on a number of occasions. 

[TheElectricChicken]

I could just see a kid sneaking out for the night, to come home to a parent waiting by the front door for him/her.  If he had this, he would know if it was safe to open the doors and sneak back up to his/her room.

And yes, I speak from experience, on a number of occasions. 

Oh there is a "Unfortunately bad use of technology" Mom and Dad in the USA get a firearm in their house 'to protect their family' then kid comes home later than their deadline and doesn't want to get yelled at and so sneaks into the house. Mom and Dad hear someone breaking into their home, get the gun, go downstairs where it's dark and then blow their kid away. Thousands of times that's happened. So typical in the USA, I won't make you throw up with pics of the ones who have been badly maimed by their parents use of firearm technology (and survived).

[Red Squirrel]

I've heard horror stories of that too.  In 'murika you shoot and then ask questions later.  I can't imagine discharging a firearm in my own house, even if I knew it was a bad guy I'd hate the kind of damage and mess it would make.

But no I don't think you can see through walls with a IR gun.  Now if the person is leaning against the door and the heat starts to transfer through the insulation you might but it would take a while for that to happen depending on the R value of the door.  Some of the really good doors have as good of an R value as walls if better.    They are very good for checking for bad insulation spots in your walls though.  Use it on a -30 day with zero wind and no sun for best results.

At least that's my understanding of how IR tech work.   

[Halcyon]

I've heard horror stories of that too.  In 'murika you shoot and then ask questions later.  I can't imagine discharging a firearm in my own house, even if I knew it was a bad guy I'd hate the kind of damage and mess it would make.

Hollow points generally don't leave an exit hole ;-) Just don't shoot the offender over carpet, the entry hole bleeds like a bitch.

[apis]

Yeah it has a camera, it shows what it's looking at on the screen of the device so you can point it correctly.

NFC is small potatoes compared to skimming and internet banking fraud, it's only a single relatively small payment for something hard to convert into cash and you can't really obscure your face from security cameras so if it gets discovered they have your mugshot.

PS. of course a lot of people won't verify the account number on the device, those people will be screwed in the case of a MITM attack ... but at least verified merchants get to show the company name instead of their bank account numbers, so you don't always have to check the account number.

Hmm, that looks like a pretty good solution, should be very secure if implemented correctly. People are always the weakest link, not much you can do about that, but you can improve the technology at least. I haven't seen anyone using NFC around here, but I would worry about smartphones used for payments since they are so easy to hack.