How To Protect Against Credit And Debit Cards' Hacking

This article is only for readers’ awareness and to keep them protected against phishing devices that are being used to copy and misuse credit and debit cards data. The possibility of hacking has increased with the recent use of contactless cards

NFC, which stands for near field communication, is a short-range wireless technology that allows devices to communicate with each other when they are in close proximity, usually no more than a few centimetres apart. It is a type of RFID (radio frequency identification) technology, but it operates at a much shorter range and at a higher frequency.

NFC is used in a number of applications, including contactless payments, access control, and data transfer. Now even our cars and toll tax barriers use the NFC. The technology is widely used in many devices, including smartwatches and rings, to enable a variety of functions, such as authentication and payments.

NFC-enabled rings can also be used for authentication and payment purposes. For example, an NFC-enabled ring can be used to unlock a door or make a payment by simply holding it near an NFC reader. These types of devices offer a convenient and secure way to conduct transactions and access secure areas.

Nowadays, passports also use NFC for transmitting data to a system containing sensitive information about you. But the daily involvement and dependency on NFC technology raises a concern whether this technology can be problematic for our security? Before getting deeper into its security threats let's see how this technology works.

How NFC works

NFC uses magnetic field induction to transmit data between two NFC-enabled devices that are physically close to each other. When one device, such as a smartphone, is brought near another NFC-enabled device, an electromagnetic field is generated between the two devices. This field allows the devices to communicate with each other and exchange data. One device has a chip with a coil but no power supply while the other is a reader or writer having an antenna and power supply to transmit the data.

The NFC communication involves three main steps: