Security, banking and Safeway

  Debit/Credit cards offer a number of security flaws to exploit.
  An easy one revolves around the number itself. If the number is compromised, the card can be used by someone other than its owner. The workaround for that, of course, is to use the 3-digit security number on the back of the card. However, not all transactions require that 3-digit security number.
  Combine that with the fact that many places print the full credit card number on receipts, and it becomes a problem. Thankfully Safeway doesn't print credit card numbers on receipts. My hope is that they only retain them digitally for end-of-night transaction processing. The likelihood, of course, is that the number is still visible to Safeway staff.
 
  Another easy security flaw revolving around these cards is the PIN. If someone sees your pin, they can use your card. They could steal your card to use it, or they could spoof your card and use the PIN to authorize it.
  That's what bothers me most about the closed-circuit television cameras (CCTV) in Safeway. They have CCTV mounts directly above the registers...and directly above the debit/credit card interface.
  PIN entry is accomplished on a surface that's tilted upward, shielded in the direction of other customers. But what about above? No such luck. The visual input pad is oriented upward and requires use of a pen...which causes the user's hand to move away from a position where it could block the CCTV's view. Thus anyone with access to the CCTV recordings can watch every user input their PIN.

  CCTV has a time stamp, as do the receipts. To exploit this system, a Safeway employee (or someone with access to the receipts and video) simply needs to correlate the PIN and card number. Done. Now every customer at Safeway needs to be concerned about exposure of their banking information. I don't know about you, but I'm using cash from here on out.