DoSing NFC prepaid cards: The Mailman Attack
It's time to live up to the blog name - it should not be only about Android after all. Let's talk Near Field Communication (NFC) and payments. NFC is a relatively simple concept. You have a card with a circular wiring, which induces an electric current if it's put in the appropriate magnetic field. This field is created by a reader and the current provides the energy for a Javacard-like microchip. When it comes to payments, Chip & PIN is a main way to go in Europe. There was a big shift recently - some of the debit (and credit) cards gained NFC communication and with it came a "Chip sans PIN" model for small transactions. This model was also present previously, but used mainly in the parking meters. However, now it has become more and more prevalent and people suddenly became aware that they money might be stolen. Well, it does not really matter that much, the truth is that if the card companies (or banks) can swallow the expenses it is all good. Here I w...