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← Payment Systems: Magstripe, Tokenization, NFC and EMV

Module 3 of 22 · Foundations · 75 min

Magnetic stripe data

Track encoding and the security thinking of the era, then MagSpoof, part by part, and the unsigned field on the stripe that tells a terminal to prefer the chip.

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What this module covers

  1. 01Making the invisible visible
  2. 02Three tracks, but two that matter
  3. 03Anatomy of a Track 2
  4. 04A structure designed for a very simple reader
  5. 05How the bits get onto the stripe
  6. 06The reader sees transitions, not a card
  7. 07Five bits per character
  8. 08Parity and the LRC
  9. 09The zeros before the record
  10. 10From a stripe to an audio signal
  11. 11MagSpoof: emulate the signal, not the stripe
  12. 12A conversation with no way back
  13. 13What MagSpoof proves, and what it does not
  14. 14MagSpoof's most interesting finding
  15. 15The service code, position by position
  16. 16The second and third positions
  17. 17The values ISO/IEC 7813 defines
  18. 18The security code and the service code
  19. 19The same record inside the chip
  20. 20What disappeared on the way into the chip
  21. 21Decoding tag 57
  22. 22Nibbles, not only bytes
  23. 23The F padding
  24. 24How the terminal reaches tag 57
  25. 25From your own bench
  26. 26How many times the same data appears
  27. 27Redundancy is not reconciliation
  28. 28Validate before interpreting
  29. 29The copy nobody compares
  30. 30The stripe comes back over radio
  31. 31When "dynamic" needs a check
  32. 32The stripe profile inside a contactless capture
  33. 33Where the track goes after the terminal
  34. 34One value, several formats
  35. 35An old structure inside a modern transaction
  36. 36Why the stripe could not simply become EMV
  37. 37And still, the stripe did not go away
  38. 38The question to take with you

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