Experts warn the public that Visa card, debit or credit can be easily hacked in seconds. Hackers can bypass online security features, as easy as 1-2-3, without being detected.
Hacking Visa card is an easy target now by the cyber criminals. It doesn't matter if it is a debit or credit card, attackers can gain access to owner's card number, expiry date and security code in a span of six seconds.
According to Telegraph, experts from Newcastle University have discovered how "frighteningly easy" for hackers to access Visa cards. The attackers will just need to use a laptop and an internet connection to hack the victim's card information in just six seconds. The attackers are using a so-called Distributing Guessing Attack to play with the security features of the bank for the online fraud scheme.
The Distributing Guessing Attack systematically sends different variations of security data on multiple websites simultaneously. A process of elimination will be done and within seconds criminals will be able to obtain the correct card number, expiry date and the three-digit security number found on the back of a Visa card.
The researchers discovered that even hackers have tried multiple and unsuccessful attempts to get the Visa card data, they remained undetected. The experts believe that this was the same method used to hack the Tesco Bank in U.K. which affected 9,000 customers costing the bank of 2.5 million Euros, Sky News reported.
Ph.D. student Mohammed Ali of Newcastle University said the current payment system of most of the websites that accept Visa card cannot detect hack or multiple invalid payments. "This allows unlimited guesses on each card data field, using up to the allowed number of attempts - typically 10 or 20 guesses - on each website," Ali added.
On the other hand, Visa has responded to the recent research and said that the research did not include the multiple layers of hack and fraud prevention features of the Visa card payment system. It added that its commitment "to keeping fraud at low levels and works closely with card issuers and acquirers to make it very difficult to obtain and use cardholder data illegally."
Meanwhile, Visa clarified that Visa card owners are protected from any liability if their card is used to any fraudulent activity. Also, Visa is confident that it won't be easy to hack since it has Visa verification system in place for online transactions. Moreover, merchants and issuers have steps to combat the hack attempts.
