Chip and PIN flaw that banks tried to censor: Cambridge scientist exposed security failures | Mail Online
Banks were yesterday accused of a cover-up after they tried to silence a Cambridge University scientist who exposed a fatal flaw in chip and PIN card security.
The UK Cards Association, which represents the country’s biggest banks, objected to research that showed how a simple £20 device could be used by fraudsters to buy goods without entering a valid personal identification number at the till.
Ex-Labour MP Melanie Johnson, a former Treasury minister who now works in the private sector as chairman of the UKCA, tried to stop the embarrassing research being published.
But in a blistering defence of academic freedom, Cambridge professor Ross Anderson warned the attempt to gag the scientists was ‘a nasty piece of spin-doctoring’ and ‘deeply offensive’.
The professor said that Cambridge would continue to publish controversial research just as it had done with scientists such as Sir Isaac Newton and Charles Darwin.
The chip and PIN system, introduced in 2006, was intended to reduce card fraud as thieves would not be able to use stolen cards without knowing the PIN.
Scientists at Cambridge began to look for flaws in the system after card users said their cards had been stolen and their PINs used – something the banks still deny is happening.
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