History:
I speak for the majority, when I say everyone has watched a movie where some sort of identification card was used to obtain access to secret files, a lab testing radioactive substances, or, possibly a health insurance plan. In the modern world we live in today, technology has been simplifying our lives for as long as we can remember. Smart cards are an example of such a technology. This technology was "invented and patented in the 1970's" (Wikipedia, 2006). France, Japan, and Germany all played crucial roles during this time, as a result, "there are some disputes regarding the actual inventor'" (Wikipedia, 2006). According to Wikipedia, Roland Moreno actually patented the concept of the memory card in 1974. It wasn't until 13 years later that the first form of smart cards was widely introduced in France as a system of payment for public phones. Some believed that one day smart cards will be as beneficial as computers. Of course, this "
implies that smartcards are not computers" (Saflink). At no surprise at all, smart cards, essentially, are computers in a form reduced to specific operations in microchips built into each individual card. By now you are probably wondering what the inventors had their sights on, and why smart cards are such a revolutionary step towards a simpler yet very secure identification system in almost every aspect of life.
Smartcard Variation:
The Government Smart Card Handbook states that "there are three different types of chips that can be associated with these cards: memory only, which includes serial-protected memory, wired logic and microcontroller" (Holcombe, 2004). Memory only cards offer a little more security than regular magnetic stripe cards. "Two advantages they have over magnetic stripe cards are: a) they have a higher data capacity (up to 16 kilobits (Kbits) compared with 80 bytes per track), and b) the read/write device is much less expensive" (Holcombe, 2004). These memory cards are meant to simply store data and do not perform any kind of calculations. Wired logic cards are more functional that the simple memory feature. These cards like the microcontroller design are capable of executing applications built into the file-system, besides offering encryption and authentication to its memory and content. Microcontroller cards are like tiny computers, "
[They] contain a microcontroller, an operating system, and read/write memory that can be updated many times" (Holcombe, 2004).
The rapid growth in technology has been impressive over the past 20 years from television graphics and multi-purpose phones to world-wide connections. Unfortunately, the government is having trouble with this growth to protect the people from having their privacy violated due to the information being stored electronically. In “The Anonymity Experiment”, by Catherine Price, states how easily a person can be track and how personal can be lost. Also, in “Social Security and ID theft”, by Felipe Sorrells, states how social security numbers and personal identities can be stolen and how the government is trying to stop that theft. They both intertwine with technology and privacy though Price's article has a broad overview of that, while Sorrells's focus is mainly on social security number and identity thief part. Price and Sorrells shows that companies are taking too much advantage from the customer, the government, even though their trying, needs to start helping the people protect their privacy, and a balance between the amount of trust people should have giving out their sensitive records to which information is protected.
As we can see now-a-days, there are many replacements to card payments such as MOBILE PAYMENT options like Apple and Samsung Pay. Recently, Apple has launched finger print (TOUCH ID) payment option in its new Mac-book Pro. Almost every application has its own wallet to pay. But still, as we know that technology is any day not secured. It might not be vulnerable today. But, we cannot predict its non-vulnerability because one day or the other, it becomes vulnerable to any type of attack.
Since the recent terrorist attacks on the United States of America, politicians and policy makers are considering anti-terrorist legislation. This would include plans to implement a national identification card. The proposed national identification cards would include features such as magnetic stripes, holograms, and integrated circuits. “This magnetic stripe is expected soon to contain a digitized fingerprint, retina scan, voice print, and other biometric identifiers, and it will leave an electronic trail every time you use it”(1). I feel that since September 11, 2001, many Americans feel insecure and unsafe. Research done by the Pew Research Center shows that, “seven out of ten Americans favor a national-ID card program in which like the French system, the cards would have to be presented to the police upon demand”(2).
Credit Cards. They are now apart of everyone 's lives. Credit cards allow people to make purchases on almost anything by borrowing money from banks and credit card businesses. Most people use them as their daily payment choice over cash. But over the years, credit cards have become a risky business for consumers to use. The lending of cash has hurt as many people as it has helped, due to the development of th money-making machine this is for banks and credit companies. With the popularity of credit and debit cards growing over cash, the card game has only just begun.
Originally Loyalty cards were introduced, by companies, as a reward for their regular customers to encourage them to keep using their store. Unfortunately, the technological age has meant that cards are becoming increasingly sophisticated and are now more akin to data collection devices; stores are able to track our spending habits and encourage extra spending without us even being aware of this and of course regularly pass our details on to third parties who want to sell us other things.
The use of credit and debit cards today are taking a tour in the sense that electronic cash is becoming more admissible as the world makes a switch towar...
As established by PCI DSS, our company needs to include different aspects to securely handle and store credit cards information. From the perspective of the Information Security Analyst we must to consider the following points:
Credit cards can be invaluable tools for college students. Using a credit card is more convenient than cash, and may help a young adult build credit that will be useful throughout his adult life. However, before a student applies for a credit card, he needs to know how credit works and the consequences associated with the misuse of a credit card. Credit can be very helpful, but may also be dangerous if one does not use it properly.
“To be ourselves causes us to be exiled by many others, yet to comply with what others want causes us to be exiled from ourselves” (Estes). Mahmoud Darwish could relate to this quote on a very serious level. He was exiled from his homeland, but stayed true to himself and his family. Darwish was born in a Palestinian village that was destroyed in the Palestine War. He became involved in political opposition and was imprisoned by the government. He was later forced into exile and became a permanent refugee. Around 1975, Mahmoud wrote a poem titled “Identity Card”. Mahmoud Darwish writes using diction, repetition, and atmosphere to express his emotions towards exile. He expressed his emotions through poetry, especially “Identity Card”.
One important reason that advancements in technology are bad is Personal identifying information can be found by anyone who has a computer. People’s personal information, like address and medical history can be found, because almost everything is online. ID theft is a growing problem in the United States. “The scope of ID theft has grown so quickly that it now takes up a substantial and growing portion of law enforcement resources.” This means that ID theft is becoming a big problem. Once your ID is stolen it can be very difficult to get back what you lost.“Though the costs of getting your money back have declined, victims aren't getting back all of what was taken”. This means that when people’s things get stolen over the internet, they may not get everything back that was taken.Technology is so advances people’s personal information can be accessed by anyone with a laptop, and that is something that needs to be changed.
According to the dictionary, Memory is defined as a device that is used to store data or programs (sequences of instructions) on a temporary or permanent basis for use in an electronic digital computer. Computers represent information in binary code, written as sequences of 0s and 1s. Each binary digit (or "bit") may be stored by any physical system that can be in either of two stable states, to represent 0 and 1. Such a system is called bistable. This could be an on-off switch, an electrical capacitor that can store or lose a charge, a magnet with its polarity up or down, or a surface that can have a pit or not. Today capacitors and transistors, functioning as tiny electrical switches, are used for temporary storage, and either disks or tape with a magnetic coating, or plastic discs with patterns of pits are used for long-term storage.(Dictionary.com 20014)
Digital money is undeniably convenient; anyone who has used a credit or debit card understands this. However, the era of digital money is only beginning; rapid technological advances will continue to make paper money a remnant of the past. Several innovations are already lessening the burden in your wallet. For instance, the seemingly innocuous mobile phone is actually playing an increasing role in facilitating monetary transactions, especially in Asia. Already, in Japan, large companies such as Coca-Cola have sanctioned vending machines that are not only compatible with common cell phones but also allow consumers to earn credits for using them (Kupetz). In this regard, the United States is strikingly behind the times when compared to other countries. Another new technology in the vein of mobile phones is no-contact cards. These innovative cards do not require a cashier to conduct a transaction; one simply holds a specia...
In spite of this, identification cards can also lead to several problems one of them being identity theft among young adults. As declared by Karen Goebel and Joan Kinney (2006) “Anyone in the United States with a social security number is potential prey, and, this includes children from birth through their teen years” (p.59). By looking at this quote, we are able to conclude that identity cards serve as valuable information to bigger authorities but can threaten people’s identity. As illustrated by Karen Goebel and Joan Kinney (2006), they were able to state a real life example which is “A boy discovered at age 17 that he was $40,000 in debt due to someone else using his social security number to purchase a yacht” (p.6).Even before reaching appropriate age to manage themselves they are subjected to dangers that could affect them later in life. This demonstrates that young teens are most likely to be victims of identity theft since they aren’t aware of the consequences and risks that come with owning a form of identity. To add, it is even harder for teen to recognize the different signs of warnings around identity theft. Finally, identity cards can be hazardous to citizens that aren’t knowledgeable of the risks or conscious of the signs of identity theft but in this next paragraph it may say
A cashless society will further improve the globalisation that characterise our present time. The computerised systems can be used to decrease the quantity of paper trail therefore substituting paper cash with cashless credits or electronic money transfers. However, in a cashless economy, this will change with certain crimes almost eradicated. It will also be faster to generate electronic payments than cash as Near Field Communications (NFC) chips make their way into more payments cards and mobile handsets as well providing protection not applicable to purchases made using cash. This technology is simple with low power wireless link evolved from radio-frequency identification (RFID) tech that can transfer small amounts of data between two devices identifying us and our bank account to a computer. Another benefit of drawing nearer to a cashless society is that other companies are providing pioneering cash-free solutions to the payment related problems we come across. For example, WisePay, a provider of e-payments services, is deploying technologies that ensure parents no longer have to worry about sending their children to school with cash to pay for meals, excursions and other fees that will eliminate the likelihood of being caught short for cash or children misplacing money. The Government also has valuable explanations why they may deem to turn away from cash. Due the main factor of printing and distributing cash, not to mention ensuring the economy is free from forgeries which are all costly endeavours estimating that the cost to society of using cash is between 0.5 and 1.5% of GDP annually. In addition, there are many technological innovations that propose there is a real enthusiasm for an alternative to cash with the upsurge...
Is it possible or impossible to safeguard the information that is contained on a high-tech national identity card?