R.I.P. Bobby

Daniel J. Hrubik, May 25, 1947 - October 3, 2016.

Tin-foil Hats and Chip Readers

I like to imagine that I am one who thinks “outside the box”. Hopefully, that will not someday result in having to think inside a box, one with bars on it, but I guess I will just take one day at a time.

Some time ago I got a new MasterCard with a chip. For those just learning, “chip” technology is replacing the old magnetic stripe on your credit card.

The magnetic stripe is just a semi-permanent account information record that was difficult to change. A card fraudster could take that information and use it in multiple transactions before anyone caught on to the fraud. It could theoretically be reprogrammed, but that would be inconvenient with current technology.

The “chip” in chip technology looks on your card just like a the SIM card contacts for a cell phone. The technology allows a transaction made with the chip card to be given a one-time transaction code. Even if a fraudster can steal the basic account information, a second transaction cannot be made without the physical card to generate the unique one-time code. Again, theoretically, this is more secure, but the chip cards are capable of carrying far more information — in some European countries, they are used as ID cards - and the cards that are enabled for remote scanning can be read without being physically inserted (“dipped”) in a chip reader.

That fact has lead to concerns that information on the card that has nothing to do with a credit transaction could fall into the hands of an identity thief. As the technology becomes more sophisticated and complex, the exploits by card hackers will undoubtedly become more difficult to block. It is an adaptation of the Peter Principle that techies just don’t seem to understand — there is always somebody out there who is smarter than the programmer.

Back in the days when you had to barter, it was relatively difficult (but still possible) to pull off a fraud. When people switched to cash, the job became a bit easier; fake coins were minted but as long as they had the requisite amount of precious metal nobody cared. It was when the fraudster mixed in something less valuable that the eureka moments of an Archimedes were needed.

The printing press took the game a bit farther. Paper money was easier to carry, but a good forger could make counterfeits in bulk. The trouble was that trying to make a large purchase with counterfeit money was a sure way to get caught. To be successful, the counterfeiter had to make numerous small purchases in varied locations. Each advance in printing at the mint brought a corresponding increase in the sophistication of the copying.

The credit card was supposed to not only free the participants in the transaction from having to carry wads of cash, but it was also supposed to make the transaction more secure, since the cash simply stayed in the bank and just changed ownership there. Remember the old credit card machines? You put the card in, placed the multiple carbon receipt in, and rolled out the invoice. Then you wrote in the amounts by hand, the buyer got one copy, the merchant got one copy, and one copy went off to the bank. The lag time was as good as physically mailing a check; you could buy stuff today and still have a couple of days to get the money to the bank.

That was a banker’s nightmare. Money in transit is money that is not earning interest for the bank from the Federal Reserve. Why do you think the bank puts holds on checks from one account to another in the same bank? It is cash in the banker’s pocket. So, the credit card process had to be speeded up. The magnetic stripe technology came in, and the account information could be read off the card electronically, sent to the bank at the speed of light (almost), and the card information could also then be exchanged without the physical card being present, allowing mail order sales to flourish. All you needed to do was give the information and sign for it.

Secure? Alas, another pipe dream, because once a thief got hold of the credit card numbers, he could forge a signature and steal until the card statement showed the thefts. It had to get more complicated. Thus the chip technology. The card companies have forced merchants to install chip readers, with the incentive being that a merchant who has a chip reader installed is not responsible for credit card fraud that occurs using a magnetic stripe swiper. The credit card companies have offered to be fully responsible, even if the buyer does not have a chipped card and the swiper has to be used. However, if the merchant does not install the chip readers, then the merchant is responsible for any fraud loss.

The early cards being issued are mostly (but not all) using contact-type chips. Some, however, have the capability of being read remotely, using a scanner that queries the card wirelessly. When the chip enters the radio frequency field, it vomits out its information. Supposedly, these are short-range transmitters, but there is a concern that hackers could use somewhat more powerful transmitters and receivers and steal the information while the card is still in the owners purse, pocket, or wallet. Move the cheese, and the mice get bigger leg muscles. Cage the cheese, and they get bigger teeth. When your treasure is on the Earth, the thief will break through and steal.

So, as an experiment, I have put a tin-foil hat on my new chipped Discover Card. Using rubber cement and some aluminum foil, I carefully covered the front and back of the chip to insulate it from radio frequencies. (In olden times, we called this a short circuit.)

I tried it out at WalMart. I slid the card through the stripe reader; the woman at the checkout said I had to insert it in the chip reader. I did so. The screen said, “CARD PROBLEM”. She said try it again. Same thing. She said try swiping it again. No workie. She tried swiping it from her register. No go. The woman in line behind me was getting a bit upset. I just looked toward the ceiling. Finally, after about the dozenth time swiping it, the transaction went through. Maybe you have to swipe it r-e-a-l-l-y s-l-o-w-l-y.

I haven’t tried it at the gas station yet. I may have to go inside and have them manually enter the account numbers. I don’t know. This will be interesting.

One other thing. I looked at the card agreement to see if there was anything about tampering with the card. Nada. My guess is, though, that all it will take is some wonky lawyer realizing that the scheme is wide open to make the merchant institute a policy whereby it refuses to accept the card if the card has had its chip crippled. Once that occurs, I may have to rethink this.

Meanwhile, the rumor on the street is that this technology, which is already 20 years old, will probably be scrapped in another half-dozen years and replaced by something like ApplePay. The merchants who are paying out mega-bucks to install chip readers will have to bite the bullet and start over. Nevertheless, I have my ears open to hear about the first successful attempt at hacking that system. It will happen. If your treasure is not in Heaven, the thieves will get it sooner or later. Happy treadmilling!

P.S. -- my Better Half tried hers at the gas station. While it did not work at Bed Bath & Beyond, and the card info had to be entered manually by the clerk, it did work at the gas station pump.

Good-bye Summer

A half year has passed. The summer is over, harvesting is taking place, and winter planting has begun. As an update, none of the Yummy peppers made it; one germinated but then damped off. Germination of the Delicious and Abe Lincoln tomatoes was less than spectacular — less than 50%. We did get tomatoes of each of those varieties. The Delicious grew like gangbusters, climbing out the top of their cages and reaching over 6 feet high. They are a good tasting, solid fleshed, fairly early tomato.

The Abe Lincolns struggled. Again, a tasty tomato, but somewhat watery inside — sliced and on my sandwiches, they soaked the bread. Neither appears to be resistant to any diseases at all. It is a toss-up whether I want to bother with them next year.

The Rutgers, as always, were slow, but steady producers.

Many of my cages this year were made from 2” x 4” mesh garden fence. A 5’ wide roll allowed for 24” and 28” high cages with 4” prongs into the ground. For next year, the 28” cages will be cut down to 24” — they are just a bit too deep for good maintenance. Also, the spacing between the cages needs to be increased for better breathing.

There is plenty to blog about. More later.

End of Round One

Now the jalapenos are in pots -- 96 out of 114 seeds for an 84% germination rate. Not sure why so many failed to germinate, but the plants that did come up were nice and healthy looking. So I'm off to make labels to keep them from getting mixed up ... or maybe, to keep me from getting confused ... whatever.

Add Endum

Finished potting the wax peppers - total was 163 out of 187 seeds. Had perhaps a half dozen culls; make the germination rate about 91%. Good, but not optimal.

On Being A Pot Person

Well, occasionally I have to stick some kind of title in that will get noticed by the web crawlers and draw attention to this site. I would have used "pothead", but that might have drawn WAY too much attention...

Thursday I started potting the Rutgers seedlings. Out of the 103 seeds planted, I potted 99 plants. I discarded 3 as being too small yet to transplant, so that is close enough to 100% germination for me. Yesterday I went to work on the wax peppers; at this point I have 137 pots and there are still 24 nice healthy ones left to transplant with about 6 or so still struggling; say 167 out of 187 seeds and I actually discarded at least a dozen for one reason or another. Ran out of dirt so I had to quit until tomorrow. Then it will be on to the jalapenos.

Not only am I out of dirt, I am out of room and this is going to be a problem. There are at least 100 jalapenos, likely more, and the Abe Lincoln tomatoes, Delicious tomatoes, and the sweet basil are popping through. The Yummy peppers are still not appearing. I figure maybe another 200 pots to go, but I really did want to do some flowers this years as well. This could be a SERIOUS problem.

Chard is up in the greenhouse along with the romaine lettuce. Can't put the tomato and pepper seedlings out there, though -- too cold. Keim Lumber is delivering my material for the new asparagus beds either tomorrow or Tuesday.

Got to musing about the Peter Principle. Once a person has risen to his level of incompetence, what are his options? A new career, starting at the bottom? Longevity seems to be a factor in our family; Dad lived to 91, Mom is 91, Uncle Joe is fixing to be 95 next month -- is it unreasonable for me to have a mid-life crisis at 68? When you have forgotten more than you currently know, is that a sign that reprogramming is in order? I think I'll sleep on that one. If it doesn't keep me awake half the night thinking about it.

Update

It's almost time to pot the seedlings.

Rutgers

Wax

Jalapeno

Also the seeds for Totally Tomatoes arrived, so last Thursday (9th) I got those going : 25 Abraham Lincoln tomatoes, 36 Delicious tomatoes, and 17 Yummy peppers. Since I had some left-over cherry tomato seeds, I interred those as well : 30 Supersweet 100s. That batch is still sleeping, but they should start popping soon.

Romaine lettuce is up in the greenhouse like a carpet, but still no sign of the onions, cabbage, broccoli, and chard. Tonight I decided to get some sweet basil going... maybe I should just go to bed.

Good night.

Sowing Seeds of ...

Yup, time to get down and dirty again. Garden season is coming back.

Last Monday (Feb the 29th) I put some wax pepper seeds (187) in the dirt. Tuesday it was the Rutgers tomatoes (103). Wednesday, the jalapeno peppers (114). This morning some tomato plants were looking at me. There is some action in the wax pepper tray; I have a feeling some of those will show by morning.

Not a very sophisticated setup -- the planter trays are simply the rotisserie chicken containers from Sam's Club. The bottoms hold enough potting soil to get the seeds started, and the bubble-top covers are clear to let me see what is happening and keep the humidity inside high. The seeds are soaked in hydrogen peroxide for 8-10 hours and then laid out in rows (so I can get some idea on germination rates) and covered with a fine layer of soil, water added carefully to get everything wet, and an incandescent bulb set over them 24/7 to provide some warmth.

Looks like the winter lazy days are over.