By Gemma Simpson, 29 January 2007 15:30
NEWS
A chip and PIN device is being introduced nationwide to prevent criminals stealing shoppers' PIN numbers.
The device is a magnifying glass that obscures the chip and PIN keypad so it can only be read head-on by the shopper and not at any other angle. This means 'shoulder surfers' - people who attempt to spy on customers as they type in their PIN numbers with a view to stealing and using their cards - are thwarted.
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The magnifying screen, recently trialled at Boots the Chemist in Cambridge, also has the added bonus of helping partially sighted customers see the PIN pads better, according to Boots essential operation manager Clive Barber.
Photo credit: Ingenico UK
The chip and PIN guard will now be rolled out to around half the UK's points of sale.
Just under two-thirds (63 per cent) of credit card holders said they are conscious of people watching them enter their PIN, according to market research company Harris Interactive.
Chip and PIN has been blamed for making ID theft easier, as checkout staff in shops are less vigilant about transactions because of the new anti-fraud technology, according to a leading criminologist.
Comments
There are 20 comments. Join the discussion
1. anonymous
I'm sorry, just how stupid do they think we are... unless the picture is mis-representing the "solution", I can clearly see the finger on the keypad, hardly difficult to see the PIN being entered.
2. anonymous
Sounds like a great idea - but I don't think it will help in the St Neots, Huntingdonshire, branch of Waitrose, where the keypads are fixed at arms length from the user so there is no chance of any sort of shielding!
3. anonymous
The picture doesn’t do this product any justice. I’ve seen these devices in Boots and they do work very well. I suppose it’s more of a marketing pic. Never mind !
4. Oliver
Yes but you would have to be on a level with the keypad to see this - so you would either have to be a dwarf/child to see the PIN or else crouch down thus drawing suspicion
5. Chris Stevens
Another Chip & PIN advance is the provision of handheld card readers (10 x 7 cms) to consumers to allow the generation of one time passwords for Card Not Present transactions. You slip your credit card/ Bank card into the reader. You then enter your PIN code. Using this the reader interacts with the chip in the card to generate a unique one time password.
One feature is if you enter the wrong PIN code the device tells you the PIN is wrong.
These devices are under active evaluation by the major credit card companies.
The dangerous part is when muggers use these devices to help them demand PIN numbers from their victims as well as stealing their cards. Those PIN numbers can be verified on the spot.
6. Stephen Meredith
I think they should go the whole way and build private cubicles next to each check out with armed guards. Or they could just use one of the many one time PIN solutions that are on the market.
7. anonymous
Boots don't even supply chip and pin pads with those inneffective little wings either side and they place the pads so you have to stretch over the counter to enter your pin. Other shops are not much better. I am only short but often the pads are placed very high so there is no chance to prevent others to see you type in your pin. I think chip and pin is VERY insecure and makes people MORE vulnerable to being mugged or having ard stolen, not less.
8. anonymous
Will this device prevent the security cameras picking up the pin info?
Some supermarkets have such good camera systems over their checkouts that they are reputed to be able to read the pins as they are keyed in.
9. Mrs Diane Wicks
Whilst stores, and Boots are a big offender, place the keypads so that they are nowhere NEAR to the person keying in their pin number, shoppers will continue to be vulnerable. As someone who has worked for over 30 years with numeric keyboards, I can easily see what pin numbers are being keyed in by looking at the hand movements of the person doing the keying, and at some distance away. Supermarkets are also big offenders. They place the keypads so that you cannot sheild them with your body to hide what you are doing and often they are placed very high up making it awkward for short people to have any sense of privacy whatsoever. Why don't ALL stores use the side shields and why are the side shields not bigger and harder to see around?
10. Nick Cole
This is yet another example of over-dependance on a specific piece of complex (and expensive) technology generating a false sense of security.
Keep things simple. Technology will inevitably only solve 80% of the problems and as in this case mask the effects of the 20% it ignores. What is required is a mix of solutions to be taken together, some low tech, some high tech.
11. Jonathan Baker
Better Solution- Get rid of the keypad, have a touch screen, and for each customer, move the location of each digit on the screen. Use an LCD with a narrow viewing angle, and the customer can read the numbers, but the shoulder surfers can not.
(Ed note. And blind people, or the visually impaired will just have to pay by cash, right?)
12. anonymous
The ONLY way to guard against fraud is to have the consumer authorise their days purchases, on line in a different session, via their on line banking.
Its dead easy. I buy something, I pay with my card. The money is withheld. I go on line, at home. The transaction is waiting for me to authorise it, I authorise it, the money is paid.
But the banks wont take this up because it withholds funds from retailers until the transaction is authorised, yet the banks themselves insist on authorising everything they purchase and hold back on the payment until authorised.
13. Jonathan Baker
Rebuttal! Cash would probably be more secure for them since they may not be able to tell if somebody was 'shoulder surfing' anyway. And where do they get the cash? They go into a bank where they can get service in a safe environment.
But... point taken!
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Better Solution- Get rid of the keypad, have a touch screen, and for each customer, move the location of each digit on the screen. Use an LCD with a narrow viewing angle, and the customer can read the numbers, but the shoulder surfers can not.
(Ed note. And blind people, or the visually impaired will just have to pay by cash, right?)
14. Yogesh Raja
Identity fraud will continue to grow because we rely on signatures despite of knowing that in the event of crime they would not even expose person's gender.
To make signature reliable we should apply ID sticker (small sticker with person's photo and name printed on it) to the document and countersign.
Fraudsters can misuse victim's personal details but not their unique appearance (true identity or visible biometric)
Current signature system is like passports without photos and that is why it is so difficult to deter and prosecute fraudsters.
Banks say signature system is not good enough and hence implemented PIN system to conclude card transactions and yet rely on signatures on their other transactions like cheques, bankers' drafts, agreements, money withdrawal notes etc. Personalised signature system would have restored honesty with minimal effort, cost and delay as described on website www.xwave.co.uk
15. Yogesh Raja
Chip and PIN system is making bad problems worse by providing fraudsters option to skim and pick PIN numbers even from retail outlets rather than only ATMs.
16. Rob
We are heading the same way as Australia. Over there some shops have boxes that you have to put your hand into with alittle window on the top. They don't moan,just accept that there are people that will steal your PIN if they can see it!
17. Greg Rozelle
I would still cover it, with my hand. From reading news articles about fraud. It seems the problem with the chop & pin is the magnetic strip that is on the card. There are a couple of solution for this problem. Have cards issued without a magnetic strip except for those who travel. Another solution is to get countries like mine to convert to chip and pin and totally get rid of the magnetic strip. This would stop most fraud.
18. Alec Clarkson
Everything to protect us from shoulder snoopers ??
So why do shops (Sainsburys', Morrisons' and such) place security cameras OVER THE CHECK-OUTs??
All in our own interest, I suppose.
19. Al
Why not just offer customers a keypad on a curly-type phone cord, so they can hold it close to their bodies? Wi-Fi and Bluetooth could be snooped (but that hasn't stopped some petrol stations from using them!) , so it'd have to be wired - that'd also suit vertically and visually challenged folks. Voice-activated and fingerprint-activated systems are too unreliable and there's no way in hell I'm going to put my eye into any lightbox for iris recognition! Does no one in the IT industry ever do any decent market or product design research???
20. Alastair Warren
I phoned my bank about Chip and Pin this week.
They should have ditched the magnetic strip to stop 'skimming'.
So what if there is an international standard for cards, why can't we have a UK strip less variant of the standard and a separate card for overseas use. I used to have a 'Eurocheque card'.
Chip and Pin still facilitates fraud.
And as for non tamperproof card readers on petrol forecourts!
The person at my bank laughed when I pointed out that the system was a holey has some of my socks.
Chip and Pin more is marketing hype. It doesn't stop fraud, and still leaves customers vulnerable.
The benefit is?