🚀 go-pugleaf

oppedahl@panix.com (Carl Oppedahl) writes:

>In <1992Nov5.184546.5854@ulysses.att.com> tom@ulysses.att.com (Tom Smith) writes:

>>On another newsgroup, there is a lot of discussion about Automatic
>>Teller Machines and the Personal Identification Number (PIN) associated
>>with an account/card.  There is controversy about whether or not
>>an encrypted version of the PIN is encoded onto the magnetic stripe
>>on the card.

>Which newsgroup?  I'd like to follow that.

ditto.

>Yes, there is.  This means the ATM can match your card to the PIN
>you entered at the ATM, even if the phone lines are cut.  Scary, huh?

>Well, it means the ATM can match _if it has the key_.  Each
>issuer has its own key.  The ATM you visit probably can match the
>card PIN with the entered PIN only if the bank that runs it issued
>your card.

I read somewhere on the net that all PINs are encrypted with the *same* *key*
so that any ATM can match any card to its PIN.  Can anyone verify or 
disprove this?

-- 
I really don't make any claim at all to know what I'm talking about.
Actually, I make no claim to know what YOU'RE talking about, either.
In fact, now I've forgotten what we were talking about . . .