Chip and PIN, how secure is the transaction?

....or perhaps if the keypad was on a fairly long curly cable and so one could arrange to hold it in a position to feel that it is reasonably private would help.

Roman

... but the mode of operation at an ATM has not changed at all, PIN was always required so why to bother to introduce Chip and PIN into shops?

roman

But the current design, surely, allows for people who would not be able to see a touchscreen pad and rely on feeling the buttons. Can a touchscreen have similar markers? Though now I have said that, I wonder (controversially perhaps) how signatures work for those people who cannot see where to sign...or how they would know for sure they are actually entering a PIN for a stated amount.

Without a hint of irony, " snipped-for-privacy@aol.com" astounded uk.finance on 29 Jan 2005 by announcing:

That's down to the siting choice of the merchant, not the design of the PINPads - especially those approved by RNIB.

In message , r_mervart writes

Because 'cloned' cards are used in shops, and the point behind C&P is to prevent cloning (at least for time being).

There are key pads available for other systems, like door entry etc, which don't have numbers printed on. You press * or somehting and the numbers light up behind the transparent keys in random order - then you tap in the code, the door opens and the numbers go out. Unless you are right in front of the pad you cannot see the numbers - so while anyone could see which buttons you pressed - they could not know what numbers they were.

This did nean that you had to think as before one tended to forget what the number was and just remember the pattern. I suspect that if this type of pad was used card cloners would quickly learn to lip read. Perhaps they do that already.

If the security and privacy are important perhaps the positioning should not be left to the merchant but should also require an approval?

Roman

Radio 4's Moneybox Live program on Monday had a large chunk about C&P. Needless to say the banker types on the panel glossed over the potential problems ("shops are told not to have security cameras looking at PIN terminals" - so we can now all feel secure, I'm sure). It's still available on the Beeb's web site for the interested.