>I am currently researching the use of Smartcards at Universities as a means
of conducting all financial transactions on campus.  Any pointers to
universities that use >these would be greatly appreciated.  I have learnt of
some i.e. University of Arizona, a couple in Michigan.

>I appreciate any assistance from anyone on anything to do with Smartcards,
or indeed any new systems on the horizon that may eclipse the use of
Smartcards.

>Regards,
>Gerry Dunne
>Perth, Western Australia



What little I know of smart cards pertains to DirecTV.  The system was
compromised months after release.  They updated the ASIC and released a
second generation card and it too was compromised. This second gen card is
still in use; recently they added an ECM to the data stream that killed boot
sector of those cards that had been modified (that is programmed), and yet
days later there was hardware & software solutions. These cards may be
discontinued if they ever kill it's datastream (as was the case with the 1st
gen cards).  They are now on their 3rd gen card and that too has been
already compromised, although not to the extent of previously released
cards.  But it's only a matter of time.  I hear tell that the same kind of
vulnerabilities applies to cards used in the Europe/UK (GSM) cellular phone
systems.

I know that this does not address your question, but I just wanted to point
out the vulnerabilities of smart cards on other systems and the havoc that
could (dare I say will) be wreaked upon users when the banks start wide
spread use of these systems.  After all  right now it's very easy to
compromise existing bank/credit cards.  Ever wonder why retail merchants are
keying in the bank code and/or the last few digits of a card they just
swiped?


Ian Carmichael
New Orleans, LA

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