Re: POint of Sale Device

["Gibson, Nathan J. (HSC)" <Nathan-Gibson () OUHSC EDU>]

Actually we want to evaluate the point of sale devices in the
university. I was using the gas station as a visual example. I usually
get an "application" evaluation response from people and that's not what
we want to evaluate. 

The devices we are wanting to look at are not connected to any
machine/device/system. The plug into a phone jack and call the bank when
it's time to process. 




-----Original Message-----
From: Valdis Kletnieks [mailto:Valdis.Kletnieks () VT EDU] 
Sent: Friday, May 11, 2007 6:00 AM
To: SECURITY () LISTSERV EDUCAUSE EDU
Subject: Re: [SECURITY] POint of Sale Device

On Thu, 10 May 2007 13:15:16 CDT, "Gibson, Nathan J. (HSC)" said:

> Does anyone know of a tool/product that can be used to check a credit 
> card point of sale device to make sure it does not store credit card 
> information?  To give you a picture of what I am talking about. Let 
> say you walked into a gas station and purchased a soda with your CC. 
> The attendant swipes your card in a little black box that sits on the 
> edge of the counter. It does not tie into an application, just a 
> device with a modem that sends the information to a bank for 
> processing. I want to be able to check the device to make sure it is 
> not storing information locally?

I'm betting somebody read about the Cambridge crew that hacked a
point-of-sale terminal to play Tetris:

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&;
articleId=9007498

I'll bite - how do you explain to the minimum-wage worker of uncertain
nationality and grasp of English that:

a) They should let you fool around with their device.
b) Why you want to make sure their device isn't hacking your card.
c) Explain to them that you aren't hacking their device to do exactly
the same thing that you're worried they might be doing to you.

At some point, you have to just decide to either pay cash, or quit
walking around in public with all that aluminum foil wrapped around your
head..

You want to *worry*, I'd worry more about what thet min-wage server at
your Applebee's is doing with your credit card while you think they are
ringing up your lunch tab.  The same goes for anytime you buy something
online using computing resources not under your control.  Remember that
Vint Cerf estimated some 140M pwned boxes out there - your odds are
*not* good.  The only reason we don't see *more* spyware hijacking
credit card numbers is because the crews doing it are quite talented,
and know exactly how much they can siphon off without the banks and
credit card clearinghouses getting upset and taking action.