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When handing someone (e.g., a hotel receptionist) my credit card, what data can they extract?

Obviously the data that is printed on the card (i.e., personal name, various numbers, expiry date, credit card company etc.), but what about the magnetic stripe and the chip? Is there any additional data saved there?

Sybil
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unor
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2 Answers2

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Magstripe: No. (And maybe not even that much.)

Chip: Gods only know, but I doubt it. The purpose of the chip is to provide secure authentication of the card. It has no reason to do more than that.

keshlam
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I once worked on a project involving attaching magnetic stripe readers to computers to process credit card transactions. I forget the details of what was on the stripe, but it was basically just the account number, customer name, and expiration date. If you're thinking that it might have your credit limit or past 100 transactions or anything like that, no.

Jay
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