[Gllug] [ot] borked net transaction

[John Winters]

On Sat, 2005-05-07 at 14:41 +0100, Robert Newson wrote:
> John Winters wrote:
> 
> >>On Saturday 07 May 2005 10:02, John Winters wrote:
> ...
> 
> > Reading data of the mag stripe is indeed trivial - but the PIN isn't
> > there.
> 
> Stupid Question: Where was/is the pin stored for stripe reading ATMs?

Generally speaking - on the bank's mainframe.  This is why the ATM can't
give you money if the network is down.

There are regular silly "investigative" programs on the TV where they
show how they "cracked the secret of how to read the magstripes and the
data on them".  There is no secret.  Mag stripe readers are readily
available and the data on them are openly and freely documented.  Just
go down to your local library or phone up BSI and ask for the relevant
standards.  (Well, they won't be free from BSI - you'll have to pay some
odd price like 47.11 GBP for a 5 page document - but they're available
to anyone who asks for them.)

John

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