PIN numbers not so personal

When you go to the cashpoint, you probably cover up your PIN in some way, so that no one can take a video of you typing it in. Scientists have revealed a way to tell which buttons you pushed, even after you’ve left the machine cash in hand.

Researchers at the University of California in San Diego recently showed how they could “read” the buttons of an cashpoint keypad with an infra-red camera, revealing which buttons had recently been pressed. As you can see in the picture, the recently pushed buttons have a distinctive red glow in the middle that tells all.

That’s sounds worrying, but before you start carrying ice cubes with you to the cashpoint consider the hurdles a potential PIN code thief will face. The camera used by the researchers costs about $18,000, and apparently a cheaper model won’t do. So your thief will need to have deep pockets. Another problem is that the camera method only works on Cashpoint’s with plastic buttons, because the metal type tend to throw off too much stray heat. Finally, the picture tells you which buttons were pressed, but not the order they were pressed in.

Final Thought
Considering all of this, I don’t see that there is much to worry about just yet. Most scammers are not going to buy a camera for $18,000 that does not really show in what order you pushed the buttons. But if any of you are worries, then just use a cashpoint with metal buttons.

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