The blank card is a plain white card with a black magnetic strip on the back. Next, I decided I would try to clone the data on my grocery store reward card and write it to a new blank card. That way if the system can’t read one track or it’s damaged, it can try the other track. The information is encoded on two of the three tracks on the magnetic stripe. (I’ve changed the numbers so that nobody can clone my grocery card and start using my fuel rewards points!) My local grocery store card contains the store ID and my membership ID number: The magnetic stripe has a member number that is read by swiping the card and then verified through a database. My Costco card stripe has the membership number. Mostly to see what was encoded on the magnetic stripe and it was fascinating.įor example, my driver license’s magnetic stripe contains my full name and address. I started to scan in everything in my wallet. When it arrived, I plugged it into my computer and downloaded the MSRX software onto my computer. Out of experimental curiosity, I purchased a magnetic card reader/writer and 25 blank magnetic cards on eBay for about $70. (If they’re smart, they won’t use a stolen credit card to ship items to their house.)īut is it be possible to take credit card information and actually create a cloned physical credit card that works?

Use credit card information to purchase online goods and services.

What can you do with stolen credit card information? A hacker could: (If it’s a non-eCommerce site, they might try to vandalize the site or encrypt the contents and demand a “ransomeware” payment to get the data back.)

If an eCommerce site is hacked, then the most valuable data is credit card information. To better understand a hacker, I’ve worked with my team to try get inside their head. But things can happen and it’s always best to know what to do in the event of a hacking. It’s important to make sure you research your credit card processors and read the fine print. Prevention is the best practice to avoid hackers on your eCommerce site and in your personal life. However, we see new methods of attack all the time. We have a vast amount of experience routing out virtual attackers. Nearly every week we get a call from a new client, asking us to help clean up a site that got hacked or attacked.

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