The use of credit and debit cards for financial transactions is now part of everyday life for many people. The advent of electronic cash, using Smart Cards, may eventually make bank notes and coins nothing more than numismatic ephemera . A recent report indicates that Smart Cards may not be as secure as they are made out to be, especially when subjected to unconventional techniques for compromising the system's security. But in the real world, there is more to security than actual possession of the security device. All real-world security systems resist compromise even with ownership of the cipher text and encryption algorithm.
Security has to be planned in to the whole system.
The research was actually carried out some time ago, but has not been publicized until now in order to let banks and other institutions set up appropriate counter measures. The security attacks are claimed to completely break a security processor that is widely used in the banking industry. Naturally, the details of the attack are being withheld, but it is certain that unconventional methods are being used to get inside these processors. The general principle is to weaken the defences of the security processor by causing it to malfunction. This can be carried out in a number of innovative ways, such as inducing power supply glitches or using a controlled bombardment of ionising radiation .