Bank of New Zealand reported on Wednesday that it has acquired global patent rights to technology that prevents unauthorized data capture from debit and credit cards.
Data stored on the magnetic strips of cards can be captured through unauthorized tampering with payment devices or separate card readers. Fraudsters can capture PINs and create fake or cloned cards to illegally withdraw money from the victim’s account or make unlawful purchases. Bank of New Zealand stated that it has invented and developed a technology called "liquified encryption numbers" ("liquified encryption numbers" or LEN), which allows customers to avoid requesting new cards and simply visit an ATM.
"On standard debit and credit cards, data is stored on a static magnetic strip that does not change," said LEN inventor Michael Turner. "Thanks to LEN, this data can change every time a client visits our bank’s ATM," he explained. "This means that criminals will not be able to subsequently use copied card data for unauthorized transactions," Turner’s words are quoted in the bank’s statement.
Unauthorized copying of card data is on the rise worldwide, and in the past five years, one in five debit or credit card users has already been affected, according to data from ACI Worldwide, a provider of electronic payment application software. The most common form of card fraud has halved in the last two years in New Zealand after LEN was introduced. (H)
