FRIDAY’S JACKPOT
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TRANSIT PLANS IN TATTERS MAYOR’S ALLIES BLOCK STINTZ’S EFFORTS
GEARED UP HIT THE SLOPES LIKE A PRO WHILE SAVING MONEY
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TORONTO
Wednesday, February 1, 2012 www.metronews.ca News worth sharing.
No-touch theft now made easy
Late. Loss
It’s only a matter of time before such credit card fraud becomes commonplace: Hacker
Pickpockets no longer need to touch their victims — they can use cheap technology to read credit cards through peoples’ pants. Hacker Kristin Paget proved as much with a demonstration at the Shmoocon hacker conference in Washington last week. With a $50 Vivotech RFID (radio frequency identification) credit card reader, she wirelessly read a volunteer’s credit card standing near her on a stage before using a $300 magnetizing tool to put the data onto a blank card, reports Forbes’ Andy Greenberg. Paget then used a credit cardswiping iPhone attachment and voilà! She stole $15 bucks from her “victim” before paying him back immediately, Greenberg wrote. Fears that hackers will steal personal or banking information
have also sparked an industry of wallets, passport covers and individual credit card holders made of stainless steel to block radio signals from lifting information. While Paget’s demonstration has been possible for years, questions about contactless payments are rising to the surface as RFIDenabled credit cards become ubiquitous. In Canada, Visa’s payWave and MasterCard’s PayPass make it easy for consumers to tap their RFID-enabled cards on a terminal and pay quickly at thousands of merchants across the country. With the right machine, stealing credit card numbers, expiry dates and transaction codes is as simple as waiting for people to walk by on a crowded street, said project scientist and hacker 3ric (pronounced Eric) Johanson. TORSTAR NEWS SERVICE
Leafs’ Dion Phaneuf controls the puck near his own net as Pittsburgh Penguins’ Matt Cooke gives pursuit in second-period action Tuesday at CONSOL Energy Center in Pittsburgh. JAMIE SABAU/GETTY IMAGES
Penguins rally for 5-4 shootout victory
The Maple Leafs appeared to be in complete control after Tyler Bozak and Clarke MacArthur scored 19 seconds apart in the third period to give Toronto a 4-1 lead. But Evgeni Malkin tied it with six seconds left in regulation and then scored the lone shootout goal to lift the Penguins to a 5-4 victory. Pittsburgh put together a furious rally that Malkin finished when James Neal’s slapshot caromed off his shoulder and into the net. See story, page 31.
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