back to article Visa approves wireless payment chip

Visa has approved a microSD card for proximity payments, slotted into the BlackBerry Bold or Samsung Galaxy S, paving the way for payWave transactions on a mobile phone. Visa's approval doesn't mean the cards, which come from DeviceFidelity, will definitely be available, but it does mean a bank currently issuing Visa payWave …

COMMENTS

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  1. Campbeltonian

    The solution is obvious

    All these problems would be solved if the NFC antenna in the phone was physically connected to the MicroSD slot.

    I wonder how my bank would feel if I took one of these and just duct taped it to the back of my iPhone. Or sewed it into the palm of a glove, that would be cool.

  2. DJ 2
    Unhappy

    Micro SD Slot.

    Is it still useable as a storage device. My BB Bold has a woefully small amount of onboard ram, I need the SD for Music, photos etc.

    1. Stuart Halliday
      Thumb Up

      memory included

      These enhanced micro SD do come with storage too.

  3. Graham Marsden
    WTF?

    Let's hear it for electronic pick-pocketing...

    Thieves now have the capabilities to steal your credit card information without laying a hand on your wallet.

    http://www.wreg.com/news/wreg-electronic-pickpocketing-story,0,6564458.story?page=1

    1. Anonymous Coward
      Thumb Down

      Re: Let's hear it for electronic pick-pocketing...

      This is why I refuse to use this technology.

      I see that the credit card people are already in denial, just like chip and pin they claim this technology hasn't been compromised.

      Just be prepared for another round of the banks etc blaming the customers and saying they must have let someone get hold of their card.

      1. David Hicks

        Ummm...

        As far as I know Chip & Pin hasn't been compromised, and I used to write Chip'n'Pin transaction software so I'm fairly well acquainted with the cards and their standards.

        The only attacks I've read about are either hilariously impractical or rely on legacy support for the magnetic stripe.

        I know, I know, new technology is scary (and I have severe doubts about the wireless system if it really is as quick as it's made out to be) but EMV is pretty secure.

        1. Wim Ton

          Speed

          I worked on a RFID terminal that could do an EMV transaction within a second. The bottleneck is often the communication with the till.

    2. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD
      Thumb Up

      was about to link something like this.

      But you beat me to it. Thumbs up for that. Thumbs down for mo' RFID.

    3. sT0rNG b4R3 duRiD

      Here's another link

      http://www.wonderhowto.com/how-to-hack-rfid-enabled-credit-card-steal-money-for-cheap-287775/

      Some have suggested solutions from frying the RFID chip to Faraday cages. I believe some guy actually markets Faraday cages for your credit card.

    4. Anonymous Coward
      Anonymous Coward

      Err?

      Your link proves nothing - some info may have been obtained from a card (as far as I was aware there is actually encrypted interaction with the chip, which they didn't achieve.) Even if they did get all the information from the card, there was no ccv, so it's not possible to use the card info CNP.

      Furthermore - you need a merchant account to get money from a card...

  4. JaitcH
    FAIL

    They had to move, to maintain a foothold

    The pace of developement in this technology was in danger of leaving Mastercard and Visa as also rans.

    By introducing this sad compromise is technologically flawed and uses the SD slot that is meant for other, more frequent uses.

  5. Oldfogey
    Coat

    Re:Re: pickpocketing

    And how do you propose to avoid this technology?

    Before long all bank debit and credit cards will have it built in, no choice, no option to disable, and no way of proving to your bnk that you didn't use it.

    Cash anyone? My wallet's here somewhere.

    1. William Old
      Boffin

      Sooner than you think...

      All cards coming from MBNA (and that includes affinity cards such as Amazon Card, AA Card, etc.) are now RFID enabled, under the Mastercard PayPass system (technically identical to Visa PayWave).

      Mine now resides in its own little cooking foil pouch in my wallet. Durable, easy to make, cheap to replace, and no sucker is going to vacuum up my card details in a walk-by RFID scan through it.

      Although I'm sure the kiosk staff at my local petrol station think I'm crackers... the hat made out of the same stuff to protect me from other folks' mobile phones might be a factor... :-)

  6. Bronek Kozicki
    Go

    Faraday ...

    http://www.thinkgeek.com/gadgets/security/8cdd/ - wallet for your card

    http://www.faraday-bags.com/ - bag for your phone

  7. Tempest
    Happy

    My passport has a chip but it hasn't worked for ages

    I don't like RFID's with my data on them so I squeezed the chip in a machine tool that had a hardened spike in the work piece.

    The chip succumbed to the 'cracked case syndrome' and it sits happily below the tape carrier. Cutting the copper wire antenna works, too, but don't remove the chip - immigration types get suspicious.

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