Phonandroid without contact: How to protect your bank card from hacking and scams?

Protecting your contactless bank card becomes essential when it is now possible to pay up to 50 euros without having to inform your secret code.Here are some tips to avoid some cold sweats and keep your money out of shelter.

The contactless payment ceiling was noted from 30 to 50 euros in France to encourage consumers to use this technology during this COVVI-19 epidemic period.This payment means avoids affecting terminals in order to enter your card and enter your code.But if contactless payment is rather secure on smartphone, which requires user authentication to work, this is not the case for bank cards.If you lose or if you are stolen from your card, anyone can use it to pay sums less than 50 euros.

There is also a hacking technique, not very widespread because it is difficult to set up, consisting in physically approaching a payment terminal of a side -free bank card in a portfolio or in a bag.A smartphone on which we downloaded and installed a specific application available on the Dark Web also allows you to siphon this kind of cards.This is why we share some solutions here to protect your bank account.

Read also: Smartphone contactless payment in France, it is a failure

NFC, RFID, what is it?

To start on a good basis, it is necessary to define and differentiate two terms that we will often resume in the rest of this paper: NFC and RFID.

RFID (Radio Frequency Identification) is a radio frequency identification method.This technology allows a reader (like a payment terminal in the case here addressed) to communicate and identify another device (bank card or smartphone for contactless payment).RFID applies to many fields and can use a very wide spectrum of radio frequencies.Originally, it had a military application, allowing for example to verify the identification of war aircraft entering an airspace.Then it has become more democratic in many technological sectors.

The NFC (Near Field Communication) flows from the RFID.It is a very specific branch (a subset) of the latter.The NFC operates on a frequency of 13.56 MHz and offers very limited flows ranging from 106 to 848 kbps.It is therefore only useful for light data transfers.One of the main characteristics of the NFC is the very low distance (only a few centimeters) which is allowed between the two communication devices, which must be very close to contact.

Protective cases and aluminum sheets

Faced with the democratization of contactless bank cards, which now represent more than half of the bank cards in circulation in France, several companies are launched in the design of protective cases blocking NFC or RFID signals used by this technology.These cases are generally made up of plastic, leather or aluminum.Be careful in the case of aluminum: if you slip the case into your wallet, the properties of this material can demagnetize the objects found there, such as metro tickets for example.

There are, however, products that solve this problem, such as anti-emaggation aluminum sheets to insert into the wallet to block the functionalities of Sans-Contact.The other advantage of this technique is that it allows you to get your bank card out of your wallet and pay directly, no need to get it out of your case also.But that means that you must systematically keep the card in the wallet so that it remains protected, where the case has the merit of being more flexible, and practical for users with a handbag for example.In short, the best solution depends here on your habits.

Aluminum protection cases are available at low prices on many e-commerce sites.If you want to orient yourself towards higher-end solutions, be aware that brands offer squarely RFID anti-wave wallets, carriers or wallets.On the other hand, it takes a much higher budget in this case.

Read also: Paypal now allows you to make your purchases with a QR code

Clothes that block RFID waves

Here is more about informing you of the existence of such items than advising you to buy it.They are currently rare, but if they were to democratize, you will have at least already heard of it.Some brands have designed jackets or pants whose pockets are doubled by a fabric that does not pass the waves of RFID contactless technology.They protect not only bank cards, but all objects that can use such a functionality, such as the NFC of our smartphones.

Norton (anti-virus) and Betabrand (clothing brand) for example associated themselves a few years ago to desigate jeans for men and a jacket for anti-wave women protecting attacks on the payment terminal discreetly attached to you.The choice of clothes is not currently very varied and this technique requiring the purchase of several clothes if we do not always want to wear the same, we are dealing here with an impractical and costly solution.But who knows, perhaps that in the future, this kind of initiatives will become popular with major brands, even a standard if the threat is becoming clearer.

A contactless bank card, danger, two cards, security

This may seem counter-intuitive at first glance, but multiplying the sources of contactless payment can strengthen their protection.To do this, just store at least two NFC bank cards in the same place.Thus, a reader will be unable to interpret the data of the two cards at the same time, which will intertwine.The payment terminal will eventually display an error without having been able to connect and debit any of the two bank cards.

Of course, this method is only useful against discreet hacking.If you are stolen or lose your contactless bank cards, they can be used by individuals who have entered their possession.

Contact your bank in the event of theft or loss of bank card

We have presented to you above means to protect your contactless bank card when it is still in your possession.But if it has been stolen from you or you have lost it, you must react very quickly.Contact your bank immediately to oppose the card.The best is to have the appropriate number pre -recorded on your smartphone to be able to act as quickly as possible.

If you have installed the mobile application of your bank on your device, check in the settings if there is an option to be notified for each purchase made.So, if you have not realized that you no longer have your bank card with you, you will be notified from the first purchase made and you can act quickly to prevent other expenses.In this kind of case, it is better to be kept informed as soon as possible to limit the damage.

Also note that you can simply ask your bank to replace your contactless bank card with a private card of this feature.You no longer have to worry about protecting it from certain types of attacks.If you don't mind having to enter your code with each payment, it is ultimately the simplest solution.And you can always use your smartphone as contactless payment means if you wish, more and more merchants accepting payment methods like Google Pay, Apple Pay or Paylib.

Security stickers and antifraude bank cards

Let us continue with advice which are not specific to contactless bank cards and which cannot prevent contactless payment by a third party, but which can still help you better protect your account in general.

Stickers can be glued to the three -digit cryptogram (CVV) located on the back of the bank card to hide it from the sight of a third party.This allows you to protect yourself from pirates who would use cameras to identify the card number as well as the cryptogram.Of course, you have to remember these three figures so that you can make payments on the internet yourself.Another merit: if someone tries to pay with your card discreetly (a child in your family for example) and removes the sticker for this, you will notice very quickly.

Several banks also offer secure bank cards.They are equipped with a back screen, and it is this one that displays the famous verification code (CVV).The system generates a new cryptogram every hour.Thus, if your bank details have been stolen online, they will only be valid for 60 minutes.No one will have time to use your card given only for this kind of hacking case, the data is not immediately used by the thief, but generally sold.And if your card number and the cryptogram are recovered by any means that do not involve going into possession of the card, the pirates will only have a limited time to take advantage of it.Unfortunately, these features are often billed by banks.And they do not protect the use of the self-contact.