Re: ATM card pins

Chris Liljenstolpe (cds@mcmurdo.gov)
Thu, 06 Aug 1998 09:53:48 +0000

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Greetings,

     In all the implimentations I am aware of today, the PIN is actually
stored at the bank in the tandem (i.e. as part of the account info). The
comms between the ATM and the bank are DES encrypted. There is no PIN on
the card...

     Chris

--On Wednesday, 05 August, 1998, 23:32 +0800 someone claiming to be Enzo
Michelangeli <em@who.net> scribed:

> At http://www.atalla.com/prod/A4000_network.html , the description
> mentions DES keys stored in the ATM machine and in the various other
> nodes involved in the transaction; there is no reference to any on-card
> encrypted pin. Such creature (encrypted PIN on ABA track 2, in the
> "Additional Data" field) was indeed mentioned in an old issue of Phrack.
> However,
> http://www.idt-net.com/magenc.htm describes a layout of Track 2 where that
> field seems to be used for a country code.
>
> It is possible that in early days of the ATM, when disconnected operations
> were commonplace, the card contained the PIN encrypted with some fixed
> key, in order to allow offline verification. Nowadays I see little scope
> for it.
>
> Enzo
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Rabid Wombat <wombat@mcfeely.bsfs.org>
> To: Jamen Porteus <jporteus@tassie.net.au>
> Cc: CodherPlunks@toad.com <CodherPlunks@toad.com>
> Date: Wednesday, August 05, 1998 11:00 PM
> Subject: Re: ATM card pins
>
>
>>
>> If your PIN is encrypted and stored on your ATM card, they're doing it
> wrong.
>>
>> -r.w.
>>
>> On Wed, 5 Aug 1998, Jamen Porteus wrote:
>>
>>> I am sick of getting pushed around by the bank telling me my 'pin'
>>> number is safer than a signature. What would a bank clerke know.
>>> Does anyone know anything about pin encryption on banking mag stripe
>>> cards?
>>> I believe track 2, ABA standard, but what of the encryption?
>>> I don't want to use it, I just need some amunition.
>>> --
>>> jImbo
>>>
>>>
>>
>

--
Chris Liljenstolpe  -  Network Engineer, NOC  -   McMurdo Station Antarctica
Antarctic Supt. Assoc. - under contract to USAP, Nat. Science Foundation OPP
mailto:cds@mcmurdo.gov       TEL: +1 509 689 6270       FAX: +1 509 689 6293
PSC 469, Box 700, APO AP 96599-5700 USA   Lat: 77 50 53 S  Long: 166 40 06 E

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