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Adam Kalsey

This is the blog of Adam Kalsey. Unusual depth and complexity. Rich, full body with a hint of nutty earthiness.

Security & Privacy

More silly credit card security

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This blog post is over 18 years old. It's possible that the information you read below isn't current and the links no longer work.

10 Oct 2006

After posting about the insecurity of credit card activation schemes, I remembered another pointless security "feature" that’s coming into vogue now. When I use my cards at some gas stations, I’m asked to enter my billing zip code.

Supposedly this is to keep the bad guys from using a stolen or lost card to buy gas. Credit cards don’t have a PIN number or any other secret code, so the use of a zip code was apparently dreamed up as a pseudo-secret code.

It seems to me that the most common way a physical card winds up in the hands of the bad guys is if it’s in a wallet that’s lost or stolen. And in that wallet, right next to the credit card, you can usually find a driver’s license. Which of course, has your zip code on it.

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