A small length of magnetic tape adhered to credit cards, badges, permits, passes and tokens. The tape is read by magnetic stripe readers incorporated into ATMs, identification readers and payment terminals. Due to the daily, heavy wear these cards receive, the digital recording on the stripe is in a very low-density format and often duplicated several times in case part of the stripe becomes damaged. See ATM machine.
Magnetic Stripes
The uses of magnetic stripes are a testimony to their durability. Adhered to credit cards and a variety of other plastic or paper cards, the low-density tape recording is designed to withstand abrasion from daily use.
Magnetic Stripes
The uses of magnetic stripes are a testimony to their durability. Adhered to credit cards and a variety of other plastic or paper cards, the low-density tape recording is designed to withstand abrasion from daily use.
 | Reproduced with permission from Computer Desktop Encyclopedia. Copyright (c) 1981-2009 The Computer Language Company Inc. All rights reserved. |
Additional Resources
- MagTool 0.1.0 (Mac)
- The tools that ship with most magnetic stripe readers, writers, and encoders are generally Windows-only and pretty crufty. MagTool provides a simple, intuitive interface to MSR206-compatible devices. The application features read, write, erase, and duplicate capabilities.
- Software downloads 2009-08-11
- Scammers introduce ATM skimmers with built-in SMS notification
- Scammers introduce ATM skimmers with built-in SMS notificationPIN number = weak spotIf the PIN number were changed to a word or phrase from which the user was asked, say, the 1st, 3rd and 5th characters on one occasion and the 2nd, 3rd and 6th characters on another occasion, etc., then...
- Discussion threads 2009-08-05
- Take An Order! 2.9.11 (Mobile)
- Are you selling products at trade shows or expos? Taking orders from customers in their home or office? Submitting bids or issuing quotations in a field situation? Delivering product and need to issue a receipt? For all these situations and more, Take An Order! is the handheld tool you need....
- Software downloads 2009-04-05
- Vulnerabilities in First-Generation RFID-Enabled Credit Cards
- An increasing number of credit cards now contain a tiny wireless computer chip and antenna based on RFID radio frequency identification and contactless smart card technology. The RFID-enabled credit cards permit contactless payments that are fast, easy, and often more reliable than magnetic stripe card transactions, and only physical proximity...
- White papers 2009-02-02
- Understanding Payment Application Data Security Standards: A White Paper for Executives Making Decisions on Compliance
- PA-DSS Payment Application Data Security Standard is the PCI Security Standards Council-managed program formerly under the supervision of the Visa Inc. program known as the Payment Application Best Practices PABP. The goal of PA-DSS is to help software vendors and others develop secure payment applications that do not store prohibited...
- White papers 2008-11-01
- Scammers caught backdooring chip and PIN terminals
- The U.K's Dedicated Cheque and Plastic Crime Unit DCPU have recently uncovered state of the art social engineering scheme, where once backdoored, chip and PIN terminals were installed at retailers and petrol stations in an attempt to steal the credit card details passing through. Originally, before online banking took place...
- Blog posts 2008-08-19
- MBTA published checksum info in court filings
- Something most troubling in the email exchange between Electronic Frontier Foundation lawyer Jennifer Granick and MBTA attorney Leuan Mahony, posted by News.com. The essence is that MBTA itself included the MIT students' confidential report PDF to MBTA on their security weaknesses as an exhibit in their complaint and it is...
- Blog posts 2008-08-14
- MIT students fight for right to expose security gaps in Boston subway
- The talk by three MIT students was to be titled "The Anatomy of a Subway Hack: Breaking Crypto RFIDs & Magstripes of Ticketing Systems." It was to be delivered Sunday at Defcon. Then the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority sued for an injunction to stop the speech and a U.S. District...
- Blog posts 2008-08-09
- Payment Card Industry Security Standards
- PCI security standards are technical and operational requirements set by the Payment Card Industry Security Standards Council to protect cardholder data. The standards globally govern all merchants and organizations that store, process or transmit this data - with new requirements for software developers and manufacturers of applications and devices used...
- White papers 2008-06-01
- Black Hat, Day 1: Cracking GSM and skimming ATMs
- Black Hat, Day 1: Cracking GSM and skimming ATMsa Congrats to you George.It sounds like those would have been some interesting talks, I would have loved to have been there, especialy for those two. Good job then, to you two for being right up there with the big boys. Anagi...
- Discussion threads 2008-02-21
- VeriAge Advanced 1.4.4 (Windows)
- Nautilus VeriAge lets you read, display, and save information from driver's licenses with a magnetic stripe coded according to AAMVA standard or California DL. The program will be useful for lots of different businesses (such as bars, casinos, clubs, where do you want to check age or just know who...
- Software downloads 2007-11-16
- Why Apple only takes credit cards for iPhones & the legal questions raised
- Earlier this week, in a post headlined Apple, hackenomics, and the waning anonymity and obsoletion of cash, I warned of how Apple's practice of requiring credit cards to purchase iPhones wreaks of a future where our cash is no good and our privacy is sacrificed as a result of dealing...
- Blog posts 2007-11-02
- Seagate's new line of hard drives
- Seagate's new line of hard drivesWhat about SPEED?????We're reaching the point where hard drives are actually big enough (at least for current uses!) and small enough (the 1.8" 60G in a pocket size drive for streaming is a neat idea), but they're not getting any faster! Other than WD's...
- Discussion threads 2007-09-06
- CR8 4.01 (Windows)
- Your in-house card printing solution: print your own club membership, photo-identity, promotional or discount cards. Suitable for use with almost any desktop or high capacity card printer that works with a Windows printer driver.Features: Easy setup with manual or database input. Easy connection to text delimited databases. ODBC connection to...
- Software downloads 2007-07-13
- CA bill would hold retailers responsible for data breaches
- A California bill winding its way through the Senate Appropriations Committee will hold retailers responsible for the costs associated with data breaches, reports Computer World.The bill, introduced by Democratic Assemblyman Dave Jones has already garnered overwhelming approval (58-2) in the State Assembly. If AB 779 passes in the Senate, it...
- Blog posts 2007-07-05
- RFID: Coming to your products and passports real soon
- RFID: Coming to your products and passports real soonAh but the fundemental differencebetween barcode and RFID is, barcodes can't be read past 24 inches accurately and require the use of a laser scanner, rather noticeable too.[B]"By the way, you know bar code technology thirty or forty years ago was considered...
- Discussion threads 2006-12-22
- First cloned passports, then bombs, and now ATM fraud: Security problems should plague RFID's future
- First, it took hackers barely two weeks to clone the new RFID-based passports. Wrote Wired of the situation:Grunwald says it took him only two weeks to figure out how to clone the passport chip. Most of that time he spent reading the standards for e-passports that are posted on a...
- Blog posts 2006-08-09
- Researchers: E-passports pose security risk
- Researchers: E-passports pose security riskAnd WHO was it that thought......RFID technology was actually a [i]good[/i] idea???You just HAD to know that once Wal*Mart started singing the praises of RFID it was immediately doomed to mediocrity.In a word:Whoops!!Dotso.com techs pointing to this story ...Found numerous channels pointing to similar story in...
- Discussion threads 2006-08-05
- Smart Cards for Access Control Advantages and Technology Choices
- Security managers have never had more options for access control cards and other badging and credentialing applications. Magnetic stripe, Wiegand and proximity technology all remain popular and effective. One new technology many security and IT managers are evaluating is contactless smart cards. Just as proximity technology brought advantages over Wiegand...
- White papers 2005-02-15
- Exeba Eswipe Reader Application Software 3.0 (Windows)
- E-swipe is a user-friendly communication software designed for the smart swipe magnetic stripe or barcode readers. E-swipe provides all the features you need to communicate with the reader easily and efficiently. With E-swipe you don't have to remember the commands that set the different options on the reader you just...
- Software downloads 2003-03-27
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