From: Cynic 
Newsgroups: uk.finance uk.legal
Subject: Re: Credit Cards/Chip and Pin/ATM withdrawls
Date: Thu, 05 Jan 2006 12:21:59 +0000

On Thu, 05 Jan 2006 10:58:45 +0000, Mark  wrote:

>>It is very cleverly encrypted. The terminal at the shop doesnt extract 
>>the PIN from the card to compare it with what the customer types in. it 
>>merely says 'the customer typed in 1234. Is that the correct PIN?'  and 
>>the chip will merely reply 'yes' or 'no'.
>
>What's to stop a Fraudster replacing the chip with one that always
>says "Yes"?  Or creating a card with such a chip onboard?

Exactly the same thing that prevents fraudsters from printing off
1000's of £50 notes - it is technologically difficult to achieve.
Making a counterfeit C&P card is *way* more difficult than making a
counterfeit £50 note.

To design such a chip needs access to a system where the cost of the
software can run into 7 figures.  Then you need to get the chip
manufactured - which costs a 6 figure sum just for a couple of
prototype wafers.  And you cannot even start until you somehow
reverse-engineer both the C&P hardware *and* its associated software.

-- 
Cynic