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by raverbashing 4626 days ago
"fraud rates in Spain, UK," for what? Credit cards? Debit? There's always going to be fraud one way or another.

"you also type the pin into the same machine... so adding a skimmer..."

There's no copying of SIM Cards.

Yes, you can still copy the magnetic stripe that's there for backwards compatibility. So, yes, it's not going to be safer while there's support for old technology.

My (European) bank issued me a chip-and-pin card without the mag stripe, good for travels, where I won't risk getting my card skimmed again.

3 comments

>There's no copying of SIM Cards.

I would be careful with such statement :-) Security usually maters on type of card, but top range is pretty expensive. There are number of ways howto 'debug' chip using power consumption, xrays etc...

It is easy to copy GSM SIM card. Also operators usually give replacement SIM ( if original gets lost) to anyone with photo id. There were number of frauds in Europe.

"There are number of ways howto 'debug' chip using power consumption, xrays etc..."

The circuit on the chip is known, that's not important. The important thing is the information in rom. Difficult, but certainly not readable through x-ray.

"It is easy to copy GSM SIM card. Also operators usually give replacement SIM"

Of course they can give you a replacement SIM, they can reconfigure their systems to point the customer to the new SIM. That's not copying.

Actual copying would be more difficult.

I watch the industry and my understanding is that, in practice, chip & pin is not safer, the attacks just change. As does the liability.
Not good for travels to the US! :)
Yes, I'm not sure about the US, but it worked like a charm in Canadian ATMs