What we give up for convenience

If you think about it, who is the culprit in the multitude of personal data breaches? The hackers? The companies that failed to protect the data? Or is it ourselves for uploading our personal data in the first place? This really isn’t a proper question because we aren’t the culprits. But the point is that we, ourselves, allow more and more data to be collected by mega corporations. Sometimes it is innocuous as registering on a web site or app, which we cannot always avoid because in order to do business in the digital world we have to. What I mean by allow is two pronged. One, we are not outspoken enough about the Google’s and Facebook’s of the digital world collecting data. Facebook has seen a little backlash recently, but people will continue over sharing every detail of their life. But that’s the really big picture. 

Second, and more specific to personal security, is what we allow by making choices to upload or share personal data. We do this by plugging in the new smart TV without learning about its capabilities and without changing the settings. Or by installing the multitude of other appliances, cameras, digital assistants that we bring into our homes and plug and play. Anything you can talk to on demand and receive a response has to be listening all the time. Creepy? We will allow apps to track our location so that when we are in certain stores or near certain locations we receive notifications. As with listening, these apps aren’t waiting for you to arrive at a certain location, they are tracking and storing your every move until you arrive at the specific location.

How much privacy are we willing to give up?

Last month police and the FBI captured a man suspected of being a serial rapist and murderer in a multitude of cases from forty years ago. The case was broken through the use of DNA. The suspect himself was smart enough not to have his DNA logged into any DNA databases. Smart detectives realized that outside of justice system DNA databases there is a plethora of information being collected by private entities. Ancestral research companies provide DNA collection kits, which allow people to submit their DNA for comparison to other samples in hopes of finding family matches. You guessed it, the profiles are stored in databases so that they can be pinged during searches.

Checking crime scene DNA against public sources of DNA, police were able to get a familial match. That match narrowed the pool of suspects down to one family. Then through traditional police work detectives were able to identify a suspect. As you can imagine privacy watchdogs are all over the issue of law enforcement having access to private sector databases.

For some time Amazon has been offering package delivery inside of your home. Utilizing an Amazon smart lock, with the customer’s permission and knowledge, delivery personnel can unlock your door and drop the package inside. Of course, you are alerted each step of the process. Amazon recently announced package delivery to your vehicle. Currently the service is only offered to owners of GM and Volvo vehicles in certain cities.  The privacy we give for convenience. We allow cleaning and pet sitting services into our vacant homes but more than likely we have met the workers performing the services. I’m sure Amazon does a fantastic job vetting it’s employees. The point is we are giving complete strangers access to our homes and vehicles. We are then shocked and surprised when something bad happens. 

Check yourself

As with corporations and social media we gladly share and upload personal data, even our current location and DNA profiles. Trusting souls that we humans are we don’t cry foul until there is a breach or government overreach. Even though we are the ones that probably share a little too much.

You can’t always avoid uploading data or providing data through registrations. What you can do is be aware of what and to whom you are sharing. Monitor your financial accounts and pay attention to announcements of breaches. You may not be directly affected, but your other accounts may have been compromised through third party links to the breach victim.

Just as we are told to change smoke detector batteries at Daylight Saving Time, maybe we should get in the habit of doing online security checks every time there is a breach announcement.

Please see the blog archive for other posts relating to privacy.

There’s been a breach May 2018

How secure are apps? April 2018

One born every minute February 2018

Are you being watched? February 2018

Cleaning up your online presence September 2017

Public WiFi for dummies July 2017

Keys to the vault August 2015

Time expired on parking meters

You approach the parking meter. It is a standalone machine in the parking lot; not connected to a building or a visible wired connection. While the meter does accept cash, it also has a credit card slot. You unsheathe your card and slide into the slot as instructed by the screen instructions. The meter reads your card and communicates, wirelessly, with the bank. If the card is authenticated, the transaction is approved and the meter distributes a receipt. Transaction complete. So what just happened? 

In the digital communication-everything is hackable world we live in how are parking meters safe? Research on this topic seems to indicate a risk reward scenario or more likely a Not worth the effort scenario. As we have seen in recent years, any system of any entity is subject to hacking. No matter the type of hardware or the owner. This article continues the discussion regarding the security of parking meters raised in the post Skimmers, August 2017.

The parking meter

Before we get into the security of the parking meter, first a little history.

According to Wikipedia, Massachusetts entrepreneur Roger Babson filed the first patent for a parking meter in 1928. The electric meter was meant to be powered from the battery of the parked car. Either due to design or necessity at the time the Babson meter never caught on. In 1935, Oklahoma City newspaper publisher Carl C. Magee had identified parking issues in the business district and was asked to find a solution. His idea was to regulate parking through coin operated meters associated with spaces determined by lines painted perpendicular to the curb. Magee asked Oklahoma State University engineering professors Holger Thuesen and Gerald Hale to develop a machine. The result was the Park-O-Meter, which Magee received a patent in 1938. The first Park-O-Meter was installed in downtown Oklahoma City in July 1935. Retailers loved the meters as they encouraged a quick turnover of cars and potential customers. Drivers, initially opposed, were forced to accept them. The cost for that first hour was five-cents.

The first meters accepted coins and had a dial to engage the timing mechanism with a red flag to indicate expiration of time. Those meters required a service person to keep the mechanism wound. Later iterations by other companies provided a system that remained wound by the action of the user setting the time, eliminating the need for service personnel. Since the parking meter made its debut there have been many styles and mechanisms deployed. All of which have completed the same task, measuring an amount of time for a price. Manual mechanisms remained in service for fifty some years until advancement in technology allowed for digital operations in the 1980’s.

At this point in our history lesson drivers looking to park their cars still had to use coins. Some machines only accepted one kind of coin. Different variations of the parking meter existed depending on the maintenance and replacement by local governments.  

Again Wikipedia tells us that in 2007 the IPS Group from San Diego, California introduced the solar powered credit card accepting parking meter. (Wikipedia is used as a source because there isn’t much out there in the way of the history of the parking meter)  The so called smart parking meter was born.

Smart parking meters

Advances in wireless technology have been applied to parking meter design to develop the “smart meter”. These meters are solar powered with wireless connectivity. This gives the meters the capability to talk to maintenance crews and banks, allowing for service calls and electronic transactions. This type of technology also allows drivers to pay through the use of phone apps and single machines to regulate multiple spaces. They also can be designed to alert enforcement personnel when cars are over parked.

The market is flooded with types and styles from a variety of vendors. Some municipalities use single pole meters per space and others use machines that regulate multiple spaces. All use wireless connectivity. Which brings up the question-Can they be hacked?

Are smart parking meters secure?

Shortly after the introduction of the smart parking meter three hackers revealed at the Black Hat conference in Las Vegas in 2009 that they had hacked meters in San Francisco. In an attempt to prove the security flaws of the new technology, the hackers’ reverse engineered the technology and found that the machines had little in the way of protection or encryption. They were able to “trick” a variety of meters into providing free parking. This infiltration manipulated the meters but did not attempt to intercept or steal credit card transactions.

Since this report was made public parking meter manufacturers have worked to improve the technology to protect electronic data transfer. Even the FTC issued a report in 2015 encouraging all manufacturers of smart devices (Appliances, thermostats, etc.) to invest more into securing the “Internet of things”

The International Parking Institute released a report titled, "What's What in parking Technology" in 2016. The report describes a point-to-point credit card encryption method, which delivers end-to-end encryption. The method instantaneously converts credit card data into an indecipherable code at the time the card is swiped to prevent hacking. Similar to how Apple Pay creates a token that has no exploitable meaning or value except to the key holders at either end of the transaction. This allows the meters to communicate directly to the banks.

This also means that any credit card data stored on the meter is encrypted as well so that it cannot be read by anyone, including maintenance personnel. As with any electronic transaction it is recommended that you keep your receipt as it contains a bank authorization number on your receipt to reference your transaction with your credit card company.

Hacking the wireless connection to obtain credit data may not be fruitful but there have been a few instances reported regarding skimming. This is when a thief attaches a device over or into the manufacturers credit card slot. The device collects credit card data as they are swiped. The problem is that parking meters are smaller than ATMs and gas pumps. So it is harder to hide the skimming devices. Not that it cannot be done or tried. On ANY type of machine that accepts credit cards you should check for evidence of tampering before swiping your card.  

So, our journey brings us back to the question, is it safe to use your credit card in a smart parking meter? For the most part, yes. The meters themselves either do not store data or the data is encrypted. The transactions also are encrypted. The machines themselves offer little space for skimming devices. Can they be hacked? More than likely a resounding yes as anything can be. Is it worth the criminals’ effort? Other than bragging rights probably not. The pay off is not worth the effort.

Another source of curiosity are vending machines that accept credit cards. There have been no indications that they’ve been targeted. But with what we’ve learned about parking meters, we’ll chalk those up to the pay off is not worth the effort as well.

Please feel free to share any and all posts. See the blog archive for more posts about wireless and personal security

Skimmers August 2017

Public Wi-Fi for dummies July 2017

Pain at the pump October 2016

Taking your identity on vacation June 2013

Skimmers

We’re not talking about water bugs, tools to clean your pool, or skipping rocks. These skimmers steal your financial identity. The news had reported that skimmers were discovered on a local gas station’s pumps. This particular station consistently has problems with pump maintenance and just the overall condition of the pumps seems to be “beat up”.  It was not a surprise that skimmers had been installed. Not that the owners had any involvement, but meaning that the owners/operators are not paying attention to the condition of the pumps. Or what is going on at the pumps. This station is also known to allow third party vendors to sell their goods on the lot and accost customers at the pumps. Big personal security peeve-Do not approach me while I’m using a gas pump or ATM. These little things add up and go back to not being surprised. The condition and environment of a business can be both a determent and invitation to criminals.

Not everyone may know exactly what a skimmer is or the extent of the problem. I thought some background might help us from becoming victims. A little education goes a long way.

Skimmers

So what are skimmers?  Credit card skimmers or skimmers are electronic devices that are attached to machines with credit card slots. Mostly ATM’s or gas pumps. The parasite device usually fits over top of the original slot so that the customer believes they are inserting their card into the machine’s card slot. When in reality the card is swiping through the criminal’s device. The device retrieves the credit card data from the magnetic strip and stores it until the criminal retrieves the device. Newer, more sophisticated devices attach internally to the machine’s card slot or transmit the data via Bluetooth.

Although criminals can make use of debit card information, it is much easier with the associated PIN. To gather this information there will also be a camera attached somewhere to video the customer entering the PIN on the keypad. Or a fake keypad accompanies the slot reader and records the keystrokes. Most times the operation of the machine is not affected. If the machine fails to work, you may have already become a victim.

History of skimmers

The idea of the use of credit card skimmers was mostly urban myth. In the late 1990’s, we were just getting use to personal computers, let alone tiny devices that could steal data from a magnetic strip. Nobody believed that such things existed or could work.

The skimmer myth also gained notoriety in restaurants. Wait staff would be issued a small skimming device to carry with them. They covertly slide the card through the device to collect the data from the magnetic strip on the way to cash register. The device holds all of the data until the end of the shift when they pass off device and are paid for their efforts. The victims then start seeing charges on their cards.

If you think about it, a restaurant is the only place you hand a stranger your credit card and let them walk out of sight.

Gizmodo.com featured a good 2014 article on skimming history, The Evolution of ATM Skimmers 

Here is a synopsis:

2002- A CBS report confirmed the existence of skimmers when they reported devices that could record the names, account numbers and other identifying information from credit card magnetic stripes.

2008-Naples Police Department investigated a rudimentary device jammed over an ATM's actual reader. The thief inserted a "micro camera" under a plastic sheet to capture the victims' keypad strokes. This was one of the first times a device had been recovered.

2009-Skimming really takes off as the devices, in different shapes and sizes began being discovered on ATM’s.

Over the next few years the technology progressed. The Internet allowed for distribution networks to manufacture devices and kits that were identical to the machine the criminal hoped to crack. 
            2011-ATM manufacturers began cracking down on skimming by installing anti-skimming devices on their machines. These consisted of translucent, circular casings over the card reader, which the criminals quickly learned to replicate.

2012-Skimmers become too small to be detected. Some being paper thin and inserted into the card slot.

2013-Gas pumps became targets.  A series of scams in Oklahoma saw thieves take home $400,000 from a chain of Murphy's gas stations before they were eventually caught. The thieves used a card skimmer and fake PIN pad overlay to obtain the necessary information. Even more eye opening, these skimmers used Bluetooth enabled devices that sucked power from the pumps themselves allowing them to run indefinitely, and allow remote access to the data. ; once it was installed, the thieves would never need touch the skimmer again.

How it works

The devices used come in all shapes and sizes. Most fit over the card slot. Some actually are big enough to replace the machine face. The closer to resembling the original card slot the less chance of being detected. Home 3D printers are making these deceptions a lot easier. As with everything else electronic, these devices are getting smaller everyday. Some skimming devices are so small and thin, they slide inside of the card slot itself. Newer devices attach to the internal wiring of the card slot. These are mostly used on gas pumps. How do criminals get inside the pumps you ask? Universal keys are available that open the pump faces exposing the card readers. The criminal will have one or more accomplices to block camera/attendant views while they install the device. Victims never know what hit them.

Once collected, the numbers are used in different ways depending on the criminal. Some are sold on the Internet for around $50 a piece (+/-).  Some criminals use the collected numbers to make counterfeit cards, which they use to purchase items, usually electronics, for resell. (Similar to Melissa McCarthy in the movie Identity Thief) The more advanced organizations use the cards to purchase gas. They drive around in specially outfitted passenger vehicles filling up covert gas tanks. This gas is then off loaded into tanker trucks and sold to less than scrupulous gas stations. 

There are thousands of iterations of card skimmers. If you’d like to see what they look like just search “credit card skimmers” in Google images.

Protection

Criminals and the technology they use are getting more sophisticated. The Internet provides enough intelligence that consumers can protect themselves. But criminals are sharing information as well. Once law enforcement or consumers defeat one strategy, criminals learn and improve their methods. So what can you can do.

Some gas stations are installing seals to cover the seams that hold the payment box. A broken seal is obvious, but multiple seals overlaid is a clue and, of course, enterprising thieves can replicate seals. Another clue can be the condition of the machine in which you are about to slide your card. If the payment box area is not maintained or appears to have been forced open, be wary. Inspect the card slot. Give it a tug. If anything is out of sorts or the slot comes off in your hand report it to the station and the police.

If your transaction attempt doesn’t work, don’t keep trying. Stop and perform an inspection. The skimmer may be causing a malfunction.

Some habits to get in to help protect your card security:

• Use Pumps/ATMs near attendants. Less chance they were compromised.
• Pay inside
• Pause before you swipe, inspect car slot, look for security seal
• Feel for difficulty inserting or sliding card
• Wiggle slot housing. Don’t have to break it. Criminals aren’t going to install anything that takes time or is permanent
• Check nearby pumps, compare slots for differences
• Guard the card number
• Use Apple/Samsung/Android pay whenever possible
• Check accounts regularly

Any suspicions report to the business owner, the police, and the issuing bank.

This post focused mainly on gas pumps. Another area of concern is the new style parking meters that allow you to swipe at the meter. Seems like easy targets. Get back to you on those.

Please feel free to share. See the blog archive for more articles on personal security

Public Wi-Fi for dummies July 2017

Pain at the pump October 2016

Taking your identity on vacation June 2013