Pitt researchers develop anti-theft credit card technology

A Pitt researcher has developed technology that would allow a person to switch their credit card… A Pitt researcher has developed technology that would allow a person to switch their credit card on and off like a light.

Pitt professor Marlin Mickle, the executive director for the RFID Center of Excellence, developed technology that blocks unwanted scanners from lifting credit card information without the owner’s knowledge, making credit cards more secure.

Mickel said the scanners that thieves use, called interrogators, send out radio signals that can read information on the credit card and bounce it back to the scanner. These scanners are widely used legally to read credit cards and track products. They are even used on Port Authority buses to read Pitt IDs when cardholders tap their cards to get on the bus.

“The interrogator can [read a card] anywhere from six inches to a couple feet away, depending on the card’s orientation,” Mickle said.

Currently, credit cards are always ready to receive and respond to a signal, making it possible for tech-savvy thieves to steal credit card information from up to two feet away without the victim’s knowledge.

“I don’t know exactly what kind of information is stored on the reader,” Mickle said. “That’s going to vary from company to company.”

With this credit card information, Mickle said that the thief can make a duplicate card that emits the same radio signal as the original credit card. This would allow the thief to access the victim’s funds through tap-and-pay kiosks — like those found in CVS, Rite Aid and a number of other businesses — that allow users to simply tap their card under a scanner.

Mickle said he started developing the technology after he was approached by a credit company.

“A couple of senior vice presidents of a well-known credit card company came to me about security,” he said.

Mickle had a simple solution for them: an “on” switch.

He designed and produced several prototype credit cards with broken circuits that essentially shut the credit card off. That could easily be completed with the push of a button on the card, small enough that it could be hidden under a company symbol or school coat of arms.

Once pushed, the button completes the circuit, readying the card to receive a signal from a legitimate interrogator. When customers want to use their credit card for a purchase, they would turn the card on. When the card is off, scanners cannot get any information from it, making it impossible for thieves to read the inactive cards.

“[The vice presidents] were amazed by the simplicity of it,” Mickle said.

Because the University has a patent, Pitt stands to profit from any company that licenses the technology. Mickle gets 30 percent of Pitt’s profits, but he said the cost will depend on a contract made for a company that wants to license it. He has not received any offers yet.

However, Mickle speculated that the new technology is not cost-effective. He said credit card companies may find it easier and cheaper to just pay customers however much the thieves have stolen, rather than fixing all of the cards.

Joseph Gallo, director at Weber Shandwick — the public relations firm representing MasterCard — referred to Mastercard’s website for the company’s position on a product like Mickle’s.

The website states that people are not able to steal credit card information that easily.

“The MasterCard PayPass protocol only transmits information over very short distances, less than four inches, so consumers have some basic protection unless someone gets very close to them with a laptop.”

Mickle replied in an email that MasterCard’s statement only applies to laptop scanners that are within FCC regulations, and that there are many illegal amplifiers that can be put into smaller, handheld readers.

“The solution works if the perpetrators follow the law, in this case the FCC regulations. However, distance is a function of transmitted power and there are many amplifiers available. The people trying to gather the information use readers — not PCs,” Mickle said.